The Red Thread
by Starebelle
Summary: When a really proud demon's life is saved by a human, he starts showing interest to the bearer of the other end of the thread now joining both their destinies and lives.
1. The Poisoned Shard

Chapter 1: The Poisoned Shard

Dawn was close and, with the first sunbeams sneaking through the leaves of the different trees, the forest was turning into an orange paradise, the birds began to wake from their dreams, flapped their wings and tweeted to welcome the new day, the water down the stream not too far away sloshed joyfully among the rocks, filling the atmosphere with a peaceful music. The panorama began to clear up little by little until the bright sunlight matched the glowing gold in the eyes of the youkai* leaning against a tree while staring at his surroundings. His cold look was lost in the distance. That night he had not returned to where his subordinate and the girl he protected were sleeping, but he had gone to that place, to the outskirts of that village. There, far away, he could sight the well through which she had disappeared not long ago, now that she was gone, peace returned. He squinted when he began to think about that again, in that moment in which he had seen the figure of that woman who had rescued him from the grip of the death, from a death that was dragging him slowly to the afterlife.

He looked down at his right hand with hatred and stuck out his claws. How could he had been so reckless? If only he had not left himself be drawn by his ambitions, he would not have been on the edge of death and that woman would not have needed to save his life. No, that was not the first time it happened, he had found himself in the same situation before, and had met Rin, but this time… this time was different. That woman was not a little innocent girl oblivious of her doings and who did not know him and therefore ignored what he could do to her. That woman had helped him by her own will even knowing he had tried to kill her in the past. She had saved his life knowing she could get him in such a compromising situation as that he was into now.

* * *

On that day, he had decided to chase Naraku who had used him in such a despicable way to fulfill his own evil plans, he had also tried to hurt Rin. But he was never going to forgive that, so he had ordered Jaken to take care of her during his absence. However, he was not expecting to find his new enemy so soon, and he was not expecting Naraku to be so powerful for him either. The dog-demon managed to win that battle, he defeated his enemy which only resulted in being a mere puppet, and he, however, ended up being badly hurt from such encounter. It was certain that Naraku was becoming very powerful.

He could not recall having ended up like that since he had lost his arm, but this time, and by his own carelessness, not only Naraku beat the hell out of him, but also managed to poison him.

With every second, Sesshomaru felt his strength being drained away, every sense was reducing considerably, even his sight was blurry now, so he decided to rest in one of the nearest forests he could find, under the shelter of the trees. He lay down there, breathing heavily and hoping for his body to fight the poison back. Unfortunately, as hours passed by, he felt each time worse. It was as if his demonic blood was failing and his healing powers had vanished. He raised his right hand and tried to look at it: as he imagined, his sight had worsened to the point he could only see a shadow. He sighed deeply and rose his head to the dark sky, it was night already. In that moment, he was more exposed to any threat than during daylight, he was exposed to other demons living in the forest who could smell his state: that smell of wounded animal about to die would attract them and they would surround him waiting for the moment to attack.

Regardless of his state, he could barely sense another presence there. He could not feel its smell, nor see it clearly. He clenched his teeth showing his fangs, if that someone came nearer, it would regret it. He was not in a position to defend himself, however, he would put up all possible resistance when it tried to devour him. The shadow remained still in front of him. He stared at it with dilated pupils, his sclera had reddened in consequence of the agony, his face had deformed to such extent that now he did look like a real beast.

But he could not move, his body had entered a state of paralysis. He half-closed his eyes with hatred to the slowly approaching shadow. It had said something, but he was too dizzy to understand those words that were drumming inside him like an echo. Could it talk, then? So it was not a normal creature, but a demon, or a human. He was not certain which one would be worse to find in such conditions.

The figure came closer, with unsteady movements, but it was still approaching. Sesshomaru started to growl. The figure took a step back and spoke again. Now that it was closer he could understand what it said.

It called him by his name.

It knew him.

He slowly stopped to growl and to show his fangs at it, he started to relax. If it knew him… who could it be? His senses worked so badly that he could not even smell it. The presence took the demon's relaxation as a good signal and kept walking towards him. He tilted his head to look at that blur now really close to him. It spoke again:

"Let me help you."

It was a woman's voice, it rang a bell, but he could not remember exactly to whom it seemed to belong. He squinted feeling delirious, he barely had the strength to remain awake. He was giving up, so easily, he was showing his most vulnerable side to that woman who raised a hand towards his chest, but he could no longer see it. His eyes closed and his head dropped to one of the sides, he could not keep on fighting the poison. However, he could distinguish a bright light through his shut eyes followed by a deep feeling of relief. After some everlasting seconds, he opened his eyes and blinked a few times; his sight was slowly clearing up to the point he could start recognizing the features of that woman he had so close: her big brown eyes, her long black hair, that dismayed but angelical expression…

It was her, the human woman who always accompanied his brother.

So if she was there, that meant Inuyasha was around too. It meant he would appear there soon to give him the coup de grace to put an end to his life. He turned pale, his eyes widened and his heart began to pound out of control into his chest. Kagome seemed to notice that since Sesshomaru began to run his small eyes around the place making a huge effort to find something.

"Don't worry, Inuyasha isn't here."

Sesshomaru looked at her again, this time thoroughly: she was half-smiling at him with a deep sorrow in her face. He then lowered his gaze to the woman's hands; she held them together cocoonlike on her chest. Again, she seemed to read his mind.

"It's a shard of the Shikon jewel" she explained looking down and revealing what her hands were hiding: a small shard shining with a dark aura slowly clearing up on that priestess's hands. "It was corrupted by a powerful poison… and then embed in your chest."

Now he understood, Naraku had done it to put an end to his life once and for all. That explained the reason why his powers were drained away, it was that thing sucking his strength all the time. He frowned at the shard and then looked back at her when he noticed she was going to continue speaking.

"I felt its presence from not too far away and I came as soon as I could. However… you'll have some problems to fully overcome its ill effects. You'd need hel-"

"I do not need it." spoke the demon finally with an icy voice and looked away from her "Leave."

She gaped at him.

"But you need something to help you recover your lost strength!"

"I said leave."

He growled at her again this time. Kagome half-closed her eyes showing offense and confronting him at the same time. She then took a big yellow bag off her back and rummaged inside. The youkai gazed at her meanwhile, what was that woman doing there alone? What called his attention the most was the absence of his half-brother who was always wandering around her like a guard dog. Where was he now? How clumsy of him to leave her alone, especially in the presence of a potential threat as he himself was for her. He had been a menace for her life in the past.

"Here." She said while taking off a few objects from the big bag and then handing him a little jar with a liquid inside "I prepared this powerful mix of herbs some time ago to fight the effects of the most powerful poison, so I have no doubts this will help you to feel better."

She placed it next to him and smiled at the icy glare she got back. That woman was truly stubborn, she was not intimidated by him not even in the least, even knowing he was the closest thing to an enemy that she had for miles around. She did not seem to fear him. Why wasnt't she afraid of him? He just looked away from her once more to show her he was not interested in that mix, now that that thing had been taken away from his body, he felt his powers slowly returning to him, it would not take him long to heal his wounds and eliminate the remaining of the poison inside.

"I don't want it."

"I'll leave it here in case you change your mind." She answered back and grinned, then she began to put all the objects she had taken away back into the bag. Finally, she stood up without taking her eyes off him. "I've got to go now, the rest must be looking for me… but I'll return tomorrow to make sure you're fine" she added this last, which made the demon frown at her "just… in case."

Having said this, she began to walk towards the opposite direction from the youkai who followed her with his eyes to where his recovering gaze allowed him. So she had saved his life, she had saved him from dying under the effects of that lethally poisoned shard which he had not noticed he had inside. He clenched his hand feeling his pride hurt. Had a human saved his life, then? He could not believe how low he had fallen as to allow a pathetic human to save him, particularly the human under Inuyasha's protection.

He glared at the herb mix she had left beside him and discovered that, a bit further away, she had forgotten to put an object back in that huge bag of her: it was what seemed a green book. He stretched out his arm hardly to be able to pick it up and spun it in his hand, it was small and seemed to have been used regularly. He opened it and his eyes landed on one of the so many pages. He squinted since the moonlight and his dizziness—which had not improved much—barely helped him see anything, the words seemed to intertwine in front of his eyes, so he scarcely managed to read a few lines:

 _I know I cannot do absolutely anything to avoid it, the pain consumes me from the inside when I see him going and leaving me behind as if I did not exist. Sometimes I wonder if the pain would fade or if I should live with it forever._

He was in pain from straining his eyes so he shut the book and tossed it aside. He did not know well what it was about and he could not care less about knowing it either. He was only certain that, as soon as she noticed the absence of the object, she would come back for it. What a pester.

A wolf howled in the distance. Luckily, he was starting to feel better now, nevertheless, he was not fully healed yet, maybe that poison had not gone completely since he still felt that general weakness. With eyes closed again trying to relax, he tried to give himself enough time to rest.

As the night passed by and he stared at the sun coming up through the trees, he began to grow anxious to have his powers back. His eyes darted towards the drink still lying there covered by little drops of dew. No, he was not going to drink such thing, he was not going to debase himself letting her help him again. He had already suffered enough dishonour allowing her to save his life, he did not want to feel in debt with a human being. But he could not help it, he craved to recover his strength again once and for all. He stretched out his arm to the potion and picked it up to have a closer view. He opened the jar and smelled the liquid inside: it smelt of fresh herbs, and somehow, his instinct assured him that that was all he needed then.

He sighed heavily trying not to think about what he was going to do and drank it.

* * *

He unstuck his eyes from the well and looked back at the sky slowly clearing up. He felt displeased to himself, he could not make up all that had taken place. He could not believe he owed his life to that pathetic human, now his reputation was stained. Demons did not own anything to such an inferior race as humans… and now he owned his life to that fool, he would have an eternal debt with her. Somehow, he felt his life and destiny starting to create a bond with that priestess by means of an invisible thread springing up from the well and creeping through the ground like a snake until it reached him and tangled its end to one of Sesshomaru's fingers.

It was then, for the first time in his whole existence, that he knew his life was bound to a human's.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

* **Youkai** : a term used to refer to Japanese folk creatures and ghosts, or to supernatural beings in general.

Hi, everyone! I have some things to say about this new project of mine:

The story is originally in Spanish, and I'll be translating it consequently as I write the chapters in its original language.

Yes, I am not a native-English speaker so please forgive me if you find any mistakes (or passages that are hard to understand), I'd be thankful if you could point them out for me to correct and then this translated fic would be understandable for everyone 😊 of course that would help me to improve the translations. As I wrote in my profile, I am studying translation and I already feel kind of prepared for doing something as important and serious as a translation of a fic (I will not lie, it's difficult, but I hope I will end up improving a lot).

I have a page in Deviantart where I upload some art if you're interested to know about me. The cover of this fic was done by me and it's on my page. You can find me as Starebelle.

Thanks for having read this and if you liked it so far, let me know in the reviews! Thank you for your support! Every critic -either good or bad- is more than welcome!


	2. Abandonment

Chapter 2: Abandonment

"Kagome, where have you been?" asked Shippo with a worried voice and jumped to the woman's shoulder.

She smiled barely and caressed the red head of the little fox to soothe him. Sango and Miroku also looked at her dubiously, but they preferred to remain silent waiting for their friend's answer.

"I just wanted to go for a walk," she lied trying to belittle the issue with a quick movement of her hand "I found a wounded animal in the way so I got caught up in trying to help him."

"And could you help him?" asked Sango with a little smile.

She nodded.

"Only a bit, he seemed reluctant to receive help."

"You should be really careful with those kinds of wild creatures from the forest, miss Kagome" stated Miroku concerned "some out there are really dangerous, and helping one of them could be risky, without mentioning that if the creature is wounded, it could attack you to defend itself."

She nodded again remembering the guttural growl Sesshmaru had let out when he realized she was getting closer. She then smiled again at the memory of the slowly soothing demon that later accepted her help, at least a bit.

"Luckily, he calmed down when he noticed I had good intentions."

"What kind of creature was it?" asked Shippo feeling worried about the animal they were talking about.

"A… a dog" she answered, well, she was not lying completely, she thought.

"How strange, a dog in these woods…" Miroku scratched his chin, thoughtful "It may have been a wolf."

"Why didn't you bring him with you, Kagome?" asked Shippo sadly.

"Ohh…" she blushed a bit, she was sinking under all those questions and was slowly growing anxious, she was not sure for how long her lie would be held if they kept on asking questions about it "well it's that… he was… kind of fierce," she said, "having tried to bring him with me wouldn't have ended up well."

"Poor creature" murmured Sango distracted while petting Kirara.

Kagome sighed and sat by the fire near her friends, she then removed the big yellow bag from her back and started to take out food. She gave each one of them a package of ramen, as well as some dog food for Kirara.

"I bought all this yesterday so it's fresh," she said, then took out a fifth ramen package and stared at it for a while before speaking again. "This one… is Inuyasha's."

Her voice trembled when she pronounced the name of the hanyou. She had forgotten it for a second: he had left without saying anything after catching a glimpse of one of Kikyo's soul collectors flying at the distance. She began to lower the package of ramen to put it back into the bag without saying a word. The rest seemed to notice it and Shippo snatched the ramen out of Kagome's hand before she could drop it inside the bag.

"If he doesn't come back, I'll eat it!"

"You can't, eating so much will be bad for your stomach," Miroku told him off.

"Let him eat it, Inuyasha doesn't deserve it," said Sango bitterly.

Kagome smiled sadly again trying to hide the incoming tears from her friends' view. They were always there for her, keeping her company and supporting her in the moments she needed the most, like this one, in which she felt so lonely. Their company eased the pain. However, when everyone began to get ready to sleep, late at night, she stared at Miroku getting closer than normal to Sango to rest as close to her as possible; Kirara made itself a ball near the fire next to Shippo; and she got into her own sleeping bag a bit further from the rest. Her eyes wandered through the horizon, to where the darkness did not allow her to see what was hiding behind the trees; but she was certain about what could be happening in that place where her eyes could not see. She lied down and stared at the crackling fire until the flame turned small and extinguished into ashes. She could not sleep, the feeling of abandonment she felt was stronger than any other thing, the warmth of friendship the rest had given had blew out as the same fire in the air once everything had turned silent, silent as the noisy silence of the night.

A sound from not far away dragged her back to reality and she sharpened her ear. She thought to be certain about what it was and, once she caught a glimpse of a red aori strolling around the camp searching for food scraps, she clenched her fists furiously. She heard Inuyasha growling when he noticed they had eaten all the ramen, however, his growl was not like Sesshomaru's, but softer, it did not show that killing instinct.

"Kagome" whispered Inuyasha and placed one of his hands on her shoulder and began to shake her softly so as to, according to what he believed, wake her up "Kagome, is there any ramen left?"

She barely opened her eyes and glared at him in a way that caused a shiver along the half-demon's spine. He withdrew his hand from her shoulder. The woman's glare had trespassed him like an arrow, he could even swear the impact had hurt him. He squinted his amber eyes and tried to smile a bit to soothe the tense atmosphere between them.

"Come on, Kagome, I haven't eaten anything since midday. Please? I won't let you be 'till you tell me where is the rest of th-

"Sit"

There is no need to state what happened after that. Kagome turned her back to Inuyasha still inside her sleeping bag. The hanyou had been smashed down into the ground under their companion's curious, startled and dozing eyes.

* * *

He smiled when he felt his body being invaded by a pleasant warmth. He could not believe that thing had worked out efficiently. Not much time had passed since dawn and the incoming sunlight began to illuminate each object in its way, even the small book lying a few meters away from him. His amber eyes lied again on the little object he had tossed aside and his thoughts wandered to the owner's direction. And in that moment in which his mind could think clearly, he asked himself what was the meaning of that thing he had read previously, he did not care, of course, but the curiosity slowly began to invade him. She had written she was in a situation she could not bear and she surely should live with it for a lifetime. What or who caused her such pain? He had noticed the way in which she had smiled at him the day before only showed she was invaded by a deep sorrow, maybe a recent one. He clicked his tongue and, without thinking about it, he stretched out his arm to grab the book again. He held it in his hand again, opened it and read the first page he found written.

" _It's happened again today, I already feel each time it's harder to show what I feel each time I hear that sound, the buzzing of the soul collectors in my ears. It's like an announcement that something bad is going to happen. It's not the case for him, of course, for him it's a symbol of hope and I could swear his heart starts pounding anxiously into his chest. But for me, for me is like some invisible hands pulled a black curtain over me as an old piece of furniture no one wants to use anymore."_

He heard, from not too far away, some approaching steps. He quicky got up. He was not allowing her getting near him again, even less now that he had allowed her to help him so much without even asking her for it. He did not want to continue being involved in uncomfortable situations with her. He felt a sharpening pain in his chest where the corrupted shard had been, he may not have given the potion enough time to alleviate every pain inside him. However, he quickly got away from that place and hid between the tallest three tops just before he saw that woman's black head appearing from between the green bushes. He hid a bit more without sticking his eyes away from her, he saw her looking around searching for him and finally, sighing with a little smile.

"Has he gone already?" she asked herself and smiled again "what a man, he is impossible." She then stared at the three where the demon had been lying against and then took notice of the empty recipient of the medicine she had given him the day before, she picked it up with a hand and examined it still smiling. "How stubborn, he drank it after all."

Feeling offended, Sesshomaru frowned at her. Who did she think she was to say such thing of him? Actually, he could not deny his pride was bigger than any other thing. That is the reason why he could not hear those kinds of statements towards himself without feeling annoyed. For some seconds he forgot the debt he had towards her and wished to teach her a lesson.

Kagome spun the jar in her hands. For a second she had held hopes of finding the demon still there. She did not think Sesshomaru wished to see her, that was beyond obvious, but she did not imagine he would be gone so quickly as if he wished to evade her. She sighed sadly: she had rose with the first sunbeams to see him and check everything was ok. She had left the camp almost tiptoeing so as not to awake anyone, specially Inuyasha who she knew had a sharp ear. A rebel tear rolled down her cheek. She was a fool; did she feel so desperate as to find a distraction for her stifling emotions in someone as unpredictable as Sesshomaru? She wished he was still there. She wished to take care of something or someone for some minutes and forget about the agony she was feeling each time more repeatedly in her everyday life.

The dog demon sniffed the air when he felt the smell of something salad in his nose. He squinted, that human was peculiar. For only a second he felt the impulse of jumping down and asking her what was the thing that tormented her so much and what was that book he had found and which he still held in his hand. He looked down at it and decided to hide it in his clothes. However, he did not jump down since he felt the presence of another being not too far away, it smelled of mixed blood.

It was Inuyasha.

He wanted to get away from there as fast as possible, nevertheless, when he started to move, he felt that stab in his chest which caused him to bend down in pain. He growled under his breath touching the afflicted zone and cursing his luck.

"What are you doing here?"

Kagome gasped and turned to see Inuyasha landing behind her. He looked around the place curiously. She suddenly glared at him and did not answer his question, but she folded her arms and turned her back at him to return to the camp.

"Kagome, answer me!"

"What do you want?" she answered bitterly.

"I wanted to know why did you leave the camp alone."

"It's none of your business" she grumbled and kept on walking.

"It is!" said the other and held her arm to stop her "I got worried when I noticed you had left who knows where without no one's protection."

She looked at him in the eye feeling surprised, she then slowly began to clench her teeth. He was insolent and shameless. After he had left her alone during most of the previous day, now he came to tell her he was worried about her? When Kikyo showed up, Kagome was left aside, forgotten, as if she did not exist. He could not care less about what happened to herself when he left in search of Kikyo. She tried all she could so as not to answer to him and pulled her arm away from his grasp.

Accidently, the jar she was holding in her hand fell to the ground and called Inuyasha's attention. She turned pale and tried to pick it up, but he was faster and picked it to his eyes level, then sniffed it.

Sesshomaru also looked like a ghost, his eyes narrowed and he tried to stand up again, but it was impossible, he could barely move his body, even less escape.

"What are you doing? Give that back!" yelled Kagome trying to snatch it away from his hand.

Inuyasha raised his hand to silence her, which worked. He then half-closed his eyes and looked around again. This time with a grin in his face. He placed a hand on Tessaiga and gave the jar back to Kagome with the other one.

"I know you're there…" mocked Inuyasha drawing the words and sniffing the air "…show up, don't act like a coward, Sesshomaru."

The youkai clenched his teeth, but he did not answer his call, he was not going to.

"If you're not going to show up by yourself, then I will help you do it!" he said energetically as he drew Tessaiga and, with rapid movement to evoke the Kaze no Kizu, he tore all the trees surrounding his brother's hiding place to pieces. The youkai growled again because of the pain and, still covering his wounded chest, he landed on the ground, not too far away from them.

Kagome gaped at him, she could not believe he was still there; he had definitely tried to hide from her. She then looked at Inuyasha with the thought of reasoning with him before he could do something terrible towards his brother.

"He's hurt, can't you see?"

"I smell it, there's poison in his blood… how did you end up in such a pathetic position, Sesshomaru?"

At first, he got no answer from the demon who just sighed heavily and stood up straight showing a posture of superiority which he did not feel in that moment since the pain was even harder to bear standing like that. However, he could not show weakness or pain in front of his half-brother, in front of the shame Inuyasha represented for the demons.

"I am not here to fight, Inuyasha" he answered finally, with a calmed, prudent voice, as if nothing had happened to him. He was doing all he could so as to not sound affected by the pain.

In that moment, the rest of their friends appeared behind them: Sango, Shippo, and Miroku. They were all still showing that sleepy but startled look due to all that fuss caused by Inuyasha.

"So why are you so near to us? What are you looking for?"

"It's none of your business."

Shippo climbed Kagome's shoulder to cheer his friend Inuyasha. The woman was completely pale.

"COME ON, INUYASHA! BEAT HIM!"

She was shaking from head to toes. This time she did not fear for her friend's wellbeing, for the one who was fighting there against a pure demon, but for the first time, it was the other brother who was in deep trouble.

And both were there again. The brothers were glaring at each other wishing to tear the other into pieces as always. The resentment and rivalry towards the other was the only thing they could share. The rest of the people there, the ones who had been left aside, stared at the two men anxiously: they all supported the younger brother, of course, as always; they feared for his security since they knew the older one was much stronger. However, in that moment, they were not conscious of Sesshomaru's delicate state.

"Then, if you're not going to tell me, I'm going to force you to speak" growled the half-demon and sprang at his brother.

In a quick trial to defend himself, Sesshomaru pulled out his sword Tokiyin, but his strength was extremely reduced and he could not compare it with Inuyasha's and, in a struggle, Tokiyin flew away from the older brother's grasp and the younger pounced over the unarmed one with Tessaiga held up. He was ready to deliver the hit that, only he and Kagome knew, would be the last one. Inuyasha smiled triumphally. He was going to win, he was finally going to put an end to that years-long rivalry. He was going to show who was the strongest.

The youkai took a step back and with a quick and desperate movement to protect himself, he rose his arm over his head.

"Say goodbye to your pathetic life!" yelled the hanyou and wielded Tessaiga to finish him.

"SIT!"

The youkai's golden eyes lowered nervously to the necklace surrounding his brother's neck. He saw it shining intensively before a powerful force sprout from it and mounted so much gravity as to smash his brother down into the ground. Tessaiga flew from his hands and stabbed the ground not too far away from its owner.

Everyone gasped in a single sound. The one who had conjured the curse had taken a step forward decisively and observed the situation sharply. Sesshomaru quickly looked at his brother before taking advantage of the distraction and evoke all his remaining strength and, finally and hardly, he flew away from there on his stole. However, as he was getting away, his eyes landed again on that woman who had stopped the fight in the right moment, she was not looking at him, but her dark eyes were set on the half-demon now. The other humans behind her began to whisper things to each other. He frowned when he noticed Tokijin had been left behind, he could not go back for it, there was no time to do it if he wanted to remain alive. So he just flew away with greater speed.

He cursed under his breath when he noticed:

She had saved his life again.

"Kagomeeee…" growled Inuyasha beginning to stand up from the hole his own body had just created in the ground "Why did you do that!?

The woman did not answer. Behind her, Miruku and Sango stared at her confused, also Shippo who asked in his innocent voice:

"Why did you stop Inuyasha, Kagome?"

"It's because…" she started to say, her voice was shaking "…I could not bear it… I cannot bear seeing you two fight. Do you really need to fight every time you meet!?" this time she said it screaming furiously at him "Why can't you have a conversation like civilized people!? You were about to kill him! And you knew he was badly wounded! That was a really dirty move, Inuyasha!

"So? How many times has he been about to kill ME without a second thought about my state!?" Inuyasha rose from the ground to confront her, his eyes shone also in anger.

"But he hasn't done it, this time it was different!" she answered as mad as him.

"Enough" interrupted Miroku placing his sceptre on the ground decisively so both remained silent and stared at the monk attentively as he spoke. "Miss Kagome is right, Inuyasha, you were fighting with a huge advantage in terms of condition so there is no doubt you'd win. However, that wouldn't have been fair if you've been wishing to surpass and defeat your brother, you must do it when both are in the same conditions and only then you'd know you've surpassed him." When he said that Inuyasha rolled his eyes frustrated "Besides, Sesshomaru seemed to be seriously poisoned, isn't it, Miss Kagome?"

She gave a jump at his question, then blinked some times.

"W-why are you asking me?"

"Because that empty jar you have in your hands is the same that contained the potion to ease the effects of the most powerful poison."

Shippo gasped.

"That's true! I remember when both went in search of those herbs when Miroku had absorbed Naraku's poisonous insects with his wind tunnel."

"Then… the dog you helped… was Sesshomaru, Kagome?" asked Sango scared and incredulous.

"WHAT?" bellowed Inuyasha and then threw his head back, laughing out loud "Kagome would never help a wretch as Sesshomaru, right, Kagome?"

She lowered her head, in silence, and therefore, admitting the truth.

"Kagome?" he asked as he got no answer "You're not a betrayer, are you?" then he laughed "it'd be so funny if all of the sudden I came to know you abandon me to reunite with my brother in secret."

There was an eerie silence.

"Inuyasha…" whispered Sango wishing for the hanyou to remain silent before he continued putting his foot in it.

"Sit."

There was a purple shine followed by another bang as Kagome got into the forest in her way back to the camp.

"He'll never learn" commented the little fox shaking his head repeatedly.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

Hello!

I want to thanks for all the Story Alerts and Reviews I received, that has been a great encouragement for me.

This is definitely not easy to do, so please forgive me if I take some time in updating.

See you soon!


	3. The Flower

Chapter 3: The Flower

"Good, the point is… what we'll do with Tokijin now".

Miroku slowly walked around the sword stuck into the ground while he held his sacred sutras in his hand in case the sword gained back that demonic aura it once had. Sango shook her head and Inuyasha just started to remove the dirt from his aori. Shippo climbed the hanyou's head and hit it with his tiny hands.

"You're an idiot, Inuyasha, go and tell Kagome you're sorry for what you said!"

"Keh!" he held Shippo so he would stop hitting him and tossed him aside, "I won't apologize to her, she's who put her foot in it".

Sango glared at him, which made Inuyasha turn pale in surprise.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because you don't know when to shut up" she told him off.

"What do you mean?"

The woman rolled her eyes before answering.

"You really don't get it, do you? You're the most shameless being I know, Inuyasha."

"Mrs. Sango is right, Inuyasha" added Miroku placing a sutra in the sword, for his surprise there was no change in it, "you don't know how to treat Mrs. Kagome, even knowing what you yourself do".

"What do I do?"

"You told her it'd be funny if all of the sudden she started to reunite with your brother" stated Shippo.

"…but that's exactly the same thing you do when you notice Kikyo is one hundred metres around".

Inuyasha half closed his eyes resentfully and then blushed a bit.

"Well… I don't…"

"Oh, you do" said Shippo pointing a threatening finger at him.

"Anyone could say you're not interested in the least about what Kagome thinks about it" tossed Sango harshly.

"And what you have just said justifies the way she reacted" added Miroku.

Inuyasha shook his head quickly and growled feeling angry.

"Stop it already, ok? This is not your business as for you to interfere" he reproached to them and looked away "stop bothering me already."

Sango sighed and looked back at Miruko who was pasting his sacred sutras in the sword until it was unrecognisable.

"Seems Tokijin is now completely harmless after having accepted Sesshomaru as its owner."

"I would not dare to touch it if I were you, monk" said Sango kind of worried.

"I will do" said Inuyasha and took a step forward smiling broadly ready to take hold of that powerful sword that had belonged to his brother not long ago.

Even though there was nothing that could outplace Tessaiga, it was not a bad idea to acquire another sword with which he could count on when in a fight. But the possibility of possessing that sword was more like battle trophy to him: it was something he had snatched from his rival after a victory.

"I'd not recommend it, Inuyasha…" started to advise him Miroku.

However, Inuyasha had already held it by the handle. He began to lift it from the ground. Immediately, an electric shock emerged from the sutras and climbed into Inuyasha's arm so he quickly jumped away from the weapon shaking his arm and cursing for what had just happened.

"What the hell…!?"

"The sacred sutras it has are both to soothe the evil powers from the sword and to stop any demon that would try to take it."

"You should have said it before…" mumbled Inuyasha glaring at him.

"You didn't give me enough time to do it" the monk smiled while he answered.

Then came the turn of Miroku to lift the sword, which he did without effort, and placed it on his shoulder. Of course the sacred sutras would not do anything to the monk that had just placed them there.

"Let's go, we've got to leave it in a safe place where no one would try to take hold of it."

"Not even Inuyasha" mocked Shippo.

Not very far away, in a cave in the deepest part of the forest, at the West, there was a girl lying over a field of flowers growing below the trees; there was a huge two-headed beast by her side which stared at her as she decorated its heads with little colourful flowers. In a moment, the beast sneezed and she girl began to laugh. Another demon looked at them resentfully and, when the human laughter filled his ears, he covered them feeling annoyed.

"Oh, please shut up, human!" he told her off.

"What's wrong, Mr. Jaken?" asked the girl and stared at him with concerned eyes, then looked at Ah-Un and, finally, at Jaken again, "I know! You too want me to do a crown of flowers for you!"

"What!?" shrieked the demon and took a step back "don't even think about it!"

"Why?" she asked again, pouting.

"Because we demons don't debase ourselves to such… emotive and human things."

"What about Mr. Sesshomaru?"

"Even less Lord Sesshomaru!" squeaked Jaken quickly and sharply. "Compared to all the other creatures, Lord Sesshomaru is, doubtlessly, more honourable, so such things would be unthinkable to be part of his character or nature…"

"Ohh…" Rin sighed sadly and stared at the few flowers she was holding between her fingers "but… I may ask him personally later."

"Of course not! You already know the answer, and knowing him, he'd not answer such triviality, besides…"

As Jaken rambled on, Ah-Un rose its heads and looked up at the clear and bright sky, Rin stopped paying attention to the little green demon and imitated the creature. There was something up there getting each second closer to where they were, it was a kind of white bird… no, it was not a bird, now that it was closer, she could see it well.

"…so there is no point of argument, human, Lor—"

"IT'S MR. SESSHOMARU!"

Rin's face lit up and she started to hop around the flower field anxiously and Jaken, after gaping at his lord overfly their heads, imitated her. They had not seen him for days already and the little demon even feared the thought of something terrible happening to him since Sesshomaru did not use to spend a lot of time away when he left alone. However, Ah-Un began to growl as it looked at him getting closer and, quickly, flew up towards him. Rin started to chuckle.

"Ah-Un is so happy to see you too, Mr. Sesshomaru!"

The approaching figure stopped flying and, as a wounded bird, started plummeting.

Jaken turned white and gasped, Rin could not understand what was happening and looked at Jaken confused. Luckily for the youkai, Ah-Un had flown towards him and managed to catch him over its back in the middle of the air so he would not hit himself against the ground several metres below, and landed softly. Rin and Jaken ran towards it immediately uncertain of what to do.

"MILORD, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?" asked Jaken tearing up desperately.

"Mr. Sesshomaru…" whispered Rin about to cry too.

"J-Jaken…" Sesshomaru murmured raising his head hardly a bit towards his subject "…take me… inside the cave."

"Y-YES, MILORD!"

Jaken immediately held Ah-Un's reins and guided it towards the interior of the cave where they had remained while the youkai was away. Rin followed them hopping to be able to follow the creature's long steps.

"What happened to you, Mr. Sesshomaru?" she asked in a low sad voice.

"Don't make questions right now, Rin" Jaken told her off still sobbing and hurried to get to the cave. Once there, he ordered Ah-Un to lie down and helped his master to get off it. Sesshomaru pushed him aside and stood up with difficulty, although the pain he felt inside forced him to take a few steps before he had to lean against one of the walls and sigh in frustration.

"Was it Naraku who beat you, Milord?"

He nodded and clenched his fist enraged when he remembered it. He slowly slid to the ground and both, demon and girl, stood at his sides to nurse him, but they did not know how.

"I need… something, Jaken," he glowered at him "I need you to do it as soon as possible."

"Tell me, Milord" he said firmly, wiping his tears away.

"I need you to… find Inuyasha and the group of humans who are always with him…"

"Inuyasha?" asked Jaken blinking surprised "Are you OK, Milord?"

Sesshomaru glared at him.

"I want you to speak to that priestess who's with him all the time… tell her that… I need… other of her potions… quickly."

The little demon nodded uncertain about what his master was talking about, however, he was not going to complain about one of his orders.

"And… take Rin with you."

"What? Why? She'd only be a nuisance" he started to protest.

"Do as I say" Sesshomaru's cold voice sounded threatening now, for his subject gave a jump and nodded.

"Let's go, human."

Rin looked sadly at Sesshomaru, she was not going to say absolutely anything for having to leave him, and before going away, she handed him one of the flowers she was holding in her tiny hand, waiting for him to take it. Sesshomaru first stared at her in the eye, then at the flower feeling confused.

"Please… get better soon, Mr Sesshomaru" begged the girl with watery eyes, "don't die, please."

He held the little flower between his fingers and nodded.

"I promise I won't."

She smiled sadly again and then ran after Jaken, who was calling her already on Ah-Un's back so she would join him, leaving the youkai completely alone in that humid and dark cave. Once he lost sight of them, everything drowned in a complete silence in which the demon wanted to rest. He placed his amber eyes again on the little flower Rin had given him. Never in his life had he bothered to hold and appreciate one the way he was doing it in that moment. Maybe because he knew that was momentary, that after a few hours it would dry up and die. The same happened to humans, to every single one of them. The same would happen to Rin someday. However, he did not feel ready for that moment as to think about such thing.

That human would die sooner or later too. The passing of time would corrupt her as well as everyone else and she would end up as dry and wither as the flower. And he would still be there, as always, immutable, as he was then. Despite that, he felt moved by finding himself thinking about that woman. Why was she suddenly invading his thoughts? He was well aware it was her who had saved his life, which meant that now he had a bond towards her that would last until he saved her back or until she died. Maybe that was the reason why he was thinking about her. And it was really disgusting to know now he owed his life to a human, he felt he was insulting each drop of demonic and pure blood running inside his veins. He squeezed the flower inside his fist and sighed again, his chest was still in pain and he could swear his strength was slowly vanishing. The potion he had drunk had relieved him just for a short period of time, it was not the final solution to what was happening to him as she had assured. However, that fleeting potion was all he could count on in that moment of weakness, and all he would hold on to if it was necessary.

"Sesshomaru will come for it sooner or later" mumbled Kagome when she saw Miroku approaching with the sword.

"Yes, and he'll be in trouble when he tries it…" growled Inuyasha.

Kagome did not utter a word in response to such comment. They had gathered all their belongings from the camp and were now returning to Kaede's village to leave the sword in a sanctuary in the region since that was the place they visited the most as for protecting the sword from other menaces. Things were quite tense between the amber-eyed hanyou and the young priestess. The rest could feel the tense atmosphere and looked at each other nervously trying to guess what to say to soothe the oppressiveness surrounding them.

But they did not need to think about what to say to switch to another topic towards something less rough, since in that moment a growl was heard from not too far away. Everyone stopped on their tracks and got ready to attack any individual or creature that would get closer to threaten their lives.

"There! Is that… a dragon?" asked Shippo holding nervously on Inuyasha's ears and looking up at the sky.

In fact, it was Ah-Un who flew over their heads and landed not too far away. In a second, Jaken and Rin jumped out of the beast's back and ran towards them quickly. The group gazed at them astonished and the first one in reacting was Kagome who lowered the bow she was aiming at Ah-Un with and took some steps towards them.

"What… are you doing here?" she asked.

"It's Lord Sesshomaru, he's severely wounded!" Jaken shrieked still crying.

"He asked us to look for you, Kagome, please help him!" Rin begged also affected.

Sesshomaru's companions begs seemed to surprise and deeply move the girl for she nodded without thinking it twice. Of course, she imagined Sesshomaru was not completely healed and that it would be a miracle if he recovered completely from Naraku's deadly poison, even if he was a really powerful youkai.

"Don't even think about it, Kagome" barked Inuyasha also taking a step fordward.

"Shut up, you stupid dog!" this time it was Shippo who also spoke and pulled his dog ears "You'll win another of Kagome's reprimands!"

She did not even turn towards Inuyasha, but ignored him completely and kneeled down to be at Jaken and Rin's height.

"Tell me how can I help."

Both immediately smiled filled with excitement.

"We need you to prepare another potion for him!" both said at the same time.

Kagome nodded and turned her head back to her friends.

"We need to hurry back to Kaede's village so I can prepare the antidote Sesshomaru needs."

"No problem" answered Sango and looked down at Kirara who meowed and turned into a gigantic cat.

Everyone mounted on her, except Kagome who got on Ah-Un with Jaken and Rin. This act seemed to annoy Inuyasha a lot since he glared at her as they were travelling behind the dragon, his eyes sparkled anger. Everyone noticed this but paid no attention to him and said none about it either.

"What's wrong with her? Does she forget who's the enemy?" he grunted.

"Naraku is the enemy" answered Miroku, "and Sesshomaru is against him too, so you could say he's on our side now."

The half-demon did not answer, but he looked away scornfully. He did not like having to help such a despicable being as his older brother, he did not deserve it, not even in the least. Sadly, he could not show resistance becasuse Kagome was not in the best of moods, particularly towards him.

"How is Sesshomaru now?" asked Kagome to Rin and Jaken.

"Very bad…" whispered Rin uneasy "he's too weak even to walk."

"That miserable Naraku will know what's good when I find him…" began to threaten Jaken filled of hatred. "I never saw Lord Sesshomaru in such a delicate state since Inuyasha cut his left arm, I'd dare say he's even worse now."

"I see…" she muttered "I'll prepare the antidote as soon as possible."

And so it happened, when they arrived to Kaede's village, she got down to work and started to harvest the herbs she needed with Jaken, Rin and Shippo's help while Sango and Miroku spoke to Kaede to put Sesshomaru's sword in a safe temple and Inuyasha looked at the whole panorama feeling disgusted. Everything now revolved around his stupid brother, which annoyed him a lot.

"We're almost done" announced Kagome taking a glimpse of the basket filled with herbs "we only need to prepare them."

"I just hope Mr. Sesshomaru is OK…" Rin lamented, she was stained with dirt and staring at the horizon sadly.

"Lord Sesshomaru is very powerful, there's no doubt he's fine" Jaken answered trying to convince himself more than the girl.

She nodded and Kagome stared at them sadly.

"I bet he is" she added to encourage them "Sesshomaru won't abandon you" both looked at her with teary eyes and smiled barely (Jaken did not smile that much, although he seemed to be profoundly thankful for that human's help).

Before midday, Kagome had the potion ready inside the same jar she had given the demon-dog the night before. Jaken held it with a lot of care and got on Ah-Un ready to leave as soon as possible to assist his master.

"Thank you so much, Kagome" the little girl thanked and hugged the woman, she was hugged back.

"In case he needs more, I have a reserve" she made them know before they left.

"I just hope this is enough" mumbled Jaken. He could not deny he would feel more confident if he did not have to be surrounded by humans and by the hateful of Inuyasha who did not even bother to go down and say goodbye to them, but that was his master's order and he had to bear with it.

Both left on Ah-Un's back and the rest waved energetically. Now all that was left of the demon and the girl was their voices at the distance before getting lost behind the trees.

"Look, Mr. Jaken, Shippo gave me one of his candies!"

"Toss that away, Rin, you don't know what it's made of!" the green demon told her off.

Kagome chuckled and looked sweetly at them as they left, she begged inside her for Sesshomaru's wellbeing and hoped that potion could help him again. She felt a kind of warmth in her chest knowing she was doing all that was possible to help someone who needed her and, especially, someone who she never thought that she would have to help.

"Good, who wants to eat something?" asked Miroku starting to walk towards the village.

"Milord?"

"Mr. Sesshomaru!"

He opened his eyes a bit, he had not noticed the moment in which he had entered a state of lethargy. Both his companions were there, staring at him attentively, holding the recipient with that content inside on their hands hopefully.

"Could you… get it?" he asked.

Both nodded and Jaken handed him the antidote.

Sesshomaru held it in his long fingers and, without thinking, different from last time, he drank it. After that, he breathed the fresh mountain air waiting for that potion to work once more, and he knew it would not take long. He closed his eyes again, feeling the sensation of warmth starting to blossom inside his chest in pain and extending to the rest of his body.

Once more, he had needed her help, and who knows if that would not happen again.

Jaken and Lin exchanged looks and smiled at each other full of hope this time. By Sesshomaru's peaceful face, everything seemed to be okay, for now. And so it was, hours passed by slowly and this time it was Sesshomaru's companions' turn to take care of the powerful demon while he recovered. Slowly, Sesshomaru started to gain colour and strength until he could sit up straight showing the priestess had helped him to get better quickly. He accepted to eat with them when Rin offered him what she was cooking: something Kagome had given her. The demon first stared at the food mistrustfully, but noticing Jaken was wolfing it all down with gusto, he limited himself to try only a little bit.

"She said it's something she bought back from her era" Rin explained happily when she saw him eating, and that he seemed to like it "I don't remember its name, but it's really tasty."

"Yes, it is" muttered Sesshomaru showing interest towards what the girl was telling him.

"She said that if I liked it, she'd bring me more when she returned."

"I think she said she'd leave this same night" added Jaken with his mouth full.

Sesshomaru pursed his lips and said nothing but looked up at what was displayed beyond the cave's entrance. So she'd leave that same night, and It was already getting darker. He knew she did not belong to that time and that she left through an old well in that village near to where the tree Inuyasha used to be slept in was.

He needed to get Tokijin back, and he knew the only way to do it was through her since Inuyasha would want to fight him again and he himself did not know where his sword was, but she did. So he would need her help once more, although the idea already disgusted him more than knowing that in only two days he owed a lot to that human. Despite that, he had to take advantage of that moment when his strength was returning to his body thanks to that potion. If he waited more, who knows what would happen to his health.

As soon as Jaken and Rin fell asleep, he stood up relatively easy and looked at Ah-Un which looked back at him attentively.

"Take care of them while I'm out" he told it.

It did not take him long to get to that village, even less now with his almost fully recovered strength. He hid behind the foliage of the trees surrounding the little village and sharpened his senses trying to find her. Her smell was the first thing he could perceive, she was still there. However, that smell of her was mixed with that salty smell he had felt that morning. He rushed to the place the smell came from, inside the heart of the forest. However, as soon as he could hear voices, he stopped to listen.

"Wait… why are you crying?"

"Why do you think I'm crying!? Because you're an idiot, that's why!"

There was a long silence, he squinted, she was with Inuyasha.

"Well… fine, I made a mistake, I admit it. But you did too!"

"What? What did I do wrong?"

"You helped the enemy, Kagome!"

"He needed help! Naraku was going to kill him if I didn't remove the Shikon shard from his chest!"

"Sesshomaru would be of a great help to me being dead, Kagome!"

That made his skin crawl; that argument was because of him. Now he understood: Inuyasha was tormenting her for having helped him.

He just remained hidden until the human strode away after the heated argument, sobbing and yelling a loud 'I'm leaving'. He also heard his brother seething and pronouncing a "do as you please" before leaving to the opposite direction. He felt a bit more relieved to know Inuyasha had left, that meant he had the opportunity to do what he wished, so he followed her for a stretch over the treetops without losing sight of her, and without stop hearing her sobs.

On one hand, he felt quite annoyed at his brother for what he had said (although knowing he wished him dead by personal benefit was common sense). On the other hand, he scorned the way he treated the one who had saved his life since he had no right to judge her. Despite that, he knew Inuyasha would never understand the natural kindness of a human even if he was half-human.

His heart pounded by the things he was thinking. Did _he_ understand it, then? He, who did not have a drop of human blood? Better said, he had been a victim of Rin's human kindness and altruism. And now, again, he was a victim of that woman's. He wanted to think it was only kindness. A kindness that, if it kept dragging him to places and situations such as the one he was into in that moment, would end up having severe consequences for him.

TO BE CONTINUED

Hello again! Here a present a new chapter! And I want to profoundly thank _Zaacna_ for her beautiful and encouraging review which filled me with emotion and wishes to go on with this _all_ your reviews make me so happy and yes, I read them all and thank you all for them! See you soon!


	4. The Thread

Chapter 4: The Thread

He followed her a bit more almost to the end of the forest as stealthy as possible so as not to be discovered. He did not wish to show up in front of the priestess and scare her, which would lead her to scream and alert Inuyasha even if he was really far from her and, therefore, everything would be ruined. So he decided to be as gradual as possible.

"Wait" he whispered.

She stopped in her tracks as if an invisible hand had caught her. She wiped her rebel tears away and started to look carefully around in search of the one who had spoken to her from the treetops. He then decided to jump down and landed in front of her who gasped and backed away in surprise. However, she did not scream, she covered her mouth with a hand to prevent herself from doing so and stared at him with those big and bright eyes.

"Don't even think about screaming" he warned her coldly.

Once her heartbeats returned to their normal pace, she spoke:

"Sesshomaru… so… you're OK already. I am so glad."

He just frowned to show how much that comment annoyed him. He did not need a human to be glad for him.

But what surprised him more was not her words, but how quickly she had recovered from the shock: to be face to face with a pure demon of sharp and cold amber eyes did not seem to cause her fear in the least. It was as if she no longer saw a potential enemy on him now that he seemed to have recovered from Naraku's attack. Her surprise had been caused by his showing up, nothing else.

"I need to get Tokijin back," he said bluntly with the same cold voice trying to keep his distance as much as possible.

"Oh, sure" she answered immediately now remembering what had happened to his sword.

"Tell me where it is" he demanded.

Kagome smiled faintly at him. Why did she smile at him?

"It's in one of the sanctuaries in the village."

"Good" he muttered, turned round and was about to jump again to one of the trees to begin looking for it.

However, just before he could leave, she spoke again to stop him.

"But I am afraid you can't get it back; It is under a powerful seal to stop any demonic being that tries to steal it. That would include you" there was a brief silence in which he remained still with his back turned on her, "so you'd need help from a human" she added.

He turned back to stare at her from over his shoulder. Kagome did not need to guess how annoyed he would feel in that moment. The amber sparkle from his eyes trespassed her like a blade. Sesshomaru started to curse her inside his head. Was she taking him for a fool? He was not going to ask a human for help, not again. She was mocking him, that must have been it. That priestess was pulling his leg the worst possible way she could and he was not going to allow, by any possible mean, her to do it. He had already suffered enough humiliation when he had to ask her for the place his sword was.

"I don't need help" he answered sharply.

"You won't get it back with your own hands."

"I said I don't need your help."

This time he did not speak but growled. He jumped to the nearest tree branch to get away from her. For some reason, he felt that being close to that woman confused him, made him dizzy, it even made him think really foolish things as the ones he had been thinking about before their encounter: in human kindness. Humans lacked kindness, they were beings who only thought about their own benefit and they sought the best way to fool demons. That is what they were doing with him, particularly her. He knew she enjoyed to know he owed her his life and she wanted to torture him for that.

Kagome stared at him surprised again, but she said nothing. The demon just turned again and left towards the village. She stood there as if she was planted in the ground without being allowed to move. It was already dark, everyone in the village was sleeping, even her friends. She sighed heavily to relax and began to walk again.

"How stubborn…" she whispered to herself while she walked across the meadow to the well, her mind was lost in the clouds "both siblings are exactly the same…"

And there was no point of argument about it. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were both like cat and dog, but the truth was that there were barely a few differences between them. Maybe Inuyasha was a bit more childish and emotional, while Sesshomaru did not seem to have feelings, he was cold, meticulous, but without losing his grace in spite of all those imperfections. He was a matchless demon. She remembered the first time she had seen him: she could swear that if she had not known that he was the enemy, she would have been delighted with him.

She reached the well and looked down its dark mouth. Somehow, she could not help being worried about Sesshmaru: it was impossible for him to get the sword from the sanctuary by himself. If he was not careful enough, he could even wake the villagers around the temple or even her friends or, what could be worse, alert Inuyasha. She could not deny Inuyasha would not be a problem for Sesshomaru with his recovered powers, but even so… she could not stand to see them fight again.

Looking up to where the sanctuary was, she thought it would cause him no harm if she walked around to check everything was in order; better said, she knew what she was going to find there, but it would be best to confirm everything was OK. That is why she rushed back to the village with her big yellow bag bouncing on her lower back because of the weight. She walked past different houses trying to be as silent as possible until she took a glimpse of the sanctuary and, as she thought, a light sprout from inside. She got closer, just enough to spy on him: in fact, he was there in front of the sword, his right hand was holding it tightly which caused a shock that emerged from the handle and travelled along his arm. This caused the demon to growl painfully and he felt so frustrated that he dropped it. After a short interval to recover himself, he tried to pick it up from the altar again without different result.

"I know you're still there" the demon growled with clenched teeth without turning back at her, he could smell her, "I think I told you that I didn't need your help."

She frowned at him.

"You won't get it on your own, you only need to ask me and I'll do it."

He finally turned back only to glare at her with his hard candle-like golden eyes that sparkled in the darkness of the night. Kagome stared at them for endless seconds, then, for some reason, she noticed both anger and confusion in the way he looked at her. What was going on inside his head?

"Why?" he asked sharply.

"I already told you a thousand times" she answered in annoyance and climbed the few steps separating them "because you can't g—"

"I mean why you are so willing to help me even when I tell you not to."

She fell silent for some seconds.

"Well… why would I be selfish with someone who needs to be helped?"

This answer did not seem to please the youkai who looked at her scornfully again.

"You're mocking me, I can see it clearly."

Kagome frowned feeling confused and annoyed at the same time.

"What are you talking about? Why would I be mocking you?"

"Because you know quite well that I owe you my life."

Hearing that made Kagome blush slightly and smiled shyly. It sounded so ironic coming from his own lips, from the lips of a demon like him that owed his life to her, to a human, knowing how much Sesshomaru used to hate humans. _He used to_ , mainly because she knew his companion, Rin, could soften at least a bit of his cold and insensible heart. When she came back from her thoughts she just shook her head and continued smiling.

"You owe me absolutely anything."

"I do, and you know it quite well" he growled, "that's why you mock me and remind it to me constantly trying to 'help me', as If your previous acts of help weren't already present enough in my mind."

She found those words annoying.

"Listen, that's not true! I don't think in that way, what's more, I don't even need to ask you a thing because you're really stubborn, Sesshomaru" she told him off as she strutted pass him and held the sword by the handle and held it up from the base where it was lying, she then started to remove the sutras one by one under the demon's slightly astonished eyes.

Once she had finished, she held it out for him.

Sesshomaru did not take it immediately, but he looked at her with reproach.

"I owe you absolutely nothing, human."

"I never planned it to be like that" she answered sharply.

He reached for the sword and, after checking with quick eyes that every mantra had been removed, he held it and put it in his belt.

"A mere 'thanks' would be enough to pay me off" she added when it seemed obvious he was not going to add a single word to it.

"You're naïve" He muttered and began to slowly and gracefully walk away.

She placed both hands on her hips, then sighed and began to walk behind him heading towards the meadow where the well was. It caught her attention that he did not rush away from her as if she was the plague, but he padded as if he waited for her to follow his steps or to get closer so as to walk by his side, which she did, still kind of offended by the harsh words the dog-demon had said, but she remained silent, so did he.

They kept on walking in pure silence among the houses until they reached the meadow, both with their eyes fixed ahead, specially Sesshomaru who did not lower himself to look at her. He just preferred to pretend he was not walking next to a miserable human, but yet, he felt he still had that debt with her, which ate him away from the insides, and even if he could not thank her with words, at least what he was doing—waking by her side showing 'humanity' towards her was enough.

"How are you feeling?" asked Kagome breaking the silence between them.

"What do you mean?" he also asked, still distant.

"Your health, I can see the herbs were of good help."

He did not answer, to be honest, yes, they were of a great help. In spite of the whole situation, and as time passed, he felt the sensation of relief slowly vanishing again to leave its way to a mild sharpening pain in that particular place in his chest where the shard had been stuck.

"Or is it… still painful?" she added when she noticed how Sesshomaru, distracted, had touched his chest.

This disturbed him and he quickly drew his hand away, which made her smile barely.

"Could you… allow me to see?" she whispered so under her breath that, if it had not been for the demon's sharp ear, he would not have heard her.

Kagome stopped walking. They had reached the well already. Sesshomaru also stopped and stared at her for an eternal moment, unsure about what to do. To tell the truth, he did not want to do what she had asked, but, actually, he felt he needed to do it, his instinct advised him to since he was certain that she would put an end to that intermittent and harassing pain that awoke each time the effect of the medicine began to fade. So the demon finally rose his hand and opened his clothes so his chest was exposed.

Kagome had seen his bare chest before when she found him badly wounded in the forest, his clothes had been drawn back and the shard was shining in the middle. Sesshomaru's skin was neat, pale, almost opaline given the fact that now he was under the moon. The only thing which disturbed the view was a large dark-violent stain below the clavicle which spread through his veins as each second passed. That was the main source of the pain.

"The place where the shard was…" she meditated seriously "I see it also corrupted the surroundings of your skin. Unless I also purify it, the poison would still try to expand through your body."

She rose her eyes to the sharp amber eyes which scrutinised her attentively. She swallowed saliva feeling nervous by what she was about to ask.

"Can I…?"

"Go ahead" he muttered now looking away from her as if it was really hard for him to face reality.

She nodded and placed a trembling hand over the affected area. A light sprout from Kagome's fingertips immediately after they touched the wound and the dog-demon felt a strange sensation of warmth in that place where the light came from, for he could not help to look down at it.

Once the light faded, the strain had vanished. Kagome felt relieved, she was right. Now that her eyes were not set on the wound, she could notice Sesshomaru's skin under her hand: it was soft and she could even perceive it as silk under her fingertips. She thought about Inuyasha's own skin which was like hers or like any other human. So a pure demon's skin was not only extremely attractive but also intoxicating to the touch...

He cleared his throat and she was pulled out of her thoughts. Burning with shame, she jumped away from him. The youkai looked away from her and fixed his clothes to cover his shoulders again. He could not hide his surprising look even if he tried his best to do it.

Before saying something—and to distract her thoughts—, Kagome took her bag off and placed it over the well's border to rummage inside it. She pulled out a new flask with the same mixture she had prepared.

"Keep this one" she advised him and handed it to him "just in case you start feeling weak again. Or… to avoid future similar problems."

Sesshomaru accepted the offer without a word, he was not looking at her anymore.

"Now… I should go, it's really late and they must be waiting for me… at the other side" she commented nervously, for God's sake, what an uncomfortable moment she was undergoing.

He nodded and put the flask between his clothes. She put her bag on again.

"Well, goodbye," said the demon returning to that distant, cold voice. He then continued walking away as if nothing had happened, and that is what he was constantly repeating inside his head, that nothing had happened.

"See you" she answered staring at Sesshomaru's leaving figure until it became smaller after each step he made. His long silver hair waving graciously behind him. Why did everything about him seemed to be charged of superiority and elegance? Even the sound of his steps were light as if he walked on feathers.

She sighed and looked down at her hand. How strange it felt to touch him, it was intoxicating and pleasing at the same time. Her fingers were burning for the long of repeating that experience.

However, he did not leave, but once he had got far away from her, he jumped to one of the tallest trees and turned back to see her getting into the well and disappear completely. He stayed like that for long minutes, and long hours, staring at the clear sky now desolated once she was gone. He did not believe in destiny, but sadly, in that occasion, he was sure that the destiny itself was testing him and humiliating him in the worst possible way. And, strangely enough, the warmth in Sesshomaru's chest, there where that human's hand had been placed, had not vanished.

He unstuck his eyes from the well and looked up at the sky slowly clearing up. He felt displeased to himself, he could not make up all that had taken place. He could not believe he owed his life to that pathetic human, now his reputation was stained. Demons did not own anything to such an inferior race as humans… and now he owned his life to that fool, he would be eternally in debt with her. Somehow, he felt his life and destiny starting to create a bond with that priestess by means of an invisible thread springing up from the well and creeping through the ground like a snake until it reached him and tangled its end to one of Sesshomaru's fingers.

But it was already sealed, his destiny and that woman's were joined together by a strong thread that would be really difficult to break.

* * *

That was a cold afternoon so Kagome and her friends hurried to find shelter in a café. Kagome sat heavily between her friends with a big cup of coffee between her hands. The three friends stared at her attentively, which made Kagome extremely uncomfortable.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

"Because we're worried" answered Eri frowning.

"You've been really distracted throughout the whole day, Kagome" added Yuka "is it because of your health problems?"

"Or your boyfriend?" finished Ayumi.

Kagome blushed instantly after they mentioned Inuyasha. Of course she was already used to them referring to him like that, however, that term still made her feel embarrassed. She sighed and nodded, already resigned.

"Sadly…"

"What did he do now?" asked Yuka.

"It's a long story…" she whispered thinking about the briefest way to tell them the whole issue "let's say that… he can't still… let go his former girlfriend's ghost."

The three of them gasped.

"It can't be!" said Ayumi.

"What are you doing with such a person, Kagome!" reprimanded Eri.

"You'll see… the thing is… yesterday we argued because I helped his brother who was in a really sticky situation.

"Oh… so his brother is also rebel and violent?" asked Ayumi, since Kagome had talked about him in a previous meeting.

She nodded, the three friends continued looking at her expecting more information, which did not happen.

"So he's jealous of his own brother?" asked Yuka.

"Jealous?" uttered Kagome, startled "O-of course not! I don't pretend absolutely anything with his brother! He's more stubborn, colder, more proud and violent, although… "

"What?" encouraged Eri rising an eyebrow.

Kagome looked down at her coffee blushing slightly.

"Nothing, everything about him is a lot worse."

The three friends exchanged conspirational looks. Kagome still kept her eyes fixed on the dark liquid inside her cup. She had been about to mention that Sesshomaru, despite all his bad qualities, was handsomer than Inuyasha. She did not know why, although she knew deep inside: Sesshomaru was more mature, slimmer, more pleasant to the eye, even more sober… but she had never come to compare him to Inuyasha until then.

"But…" started to reason Ayumi "if your boyfriend is jealous, that means he keeps his doubts about his own brother's intentions, after all, they don't get on well."

"Has something happened between you and his brother lately, Kagome?" asked Eri.

"Well…"

Kagome's eyes darted towards her right hand, that hand which had touched the demon's soft skin, she still had not forgotten how it felt, and that in the deepest part of her entire being she longed to touch that skin again. Even that same night she had dreamt with that moment and those amber eyes that stared at her at every moment as she introduced her hands under the demon's white clothes covering his chest and leaving a trace of a heady caress behind.

The girl went tomato-red and shook her head energetically.

"Hmmm… how strange" muttered Yuka and the other girls nodded.

* * *

"Lord Sesshmaru, you've returned!" Jaken bowed when the demon swaggered into the cave "I see you are feeling wonderfully today."

"Shut your mouth, Jaken" he threatened him.

Sesshomaru walked towards Rin who was still asleep against Ah-Un's back, it was still too early for her to wake up, it had been only a few minutes since sunrise.

"So has the potion worked, milord?"

"I think it's quite clear" he answered coldly and scornfully for having to remember that, Jaken seemed to notice.

"Don't feel down, milord, it was Rin and I who helped the most to prepare that mixture, so you don't owe absolutely anything to that foolish human who's with Inuyasha."

"You're wrong."

"Milord?"

Sesshomaru was not looking at him, his eyes were still fixed on Rin, he could not help seeing that woman reflected in the innocent child's face sleeping at his feet.

"That human…" he whispered with clenched teeth feeling deep rage, he also clenched his fists "that human helped me from dying by Naraku's hands."

Jaken gasped and turned pale. He knew clearly what that meant, Sesshomaru also did.

"B-But milord… the thread won't…!"

"Shut up, Jaken" growled Sesshomaru and stepped on the little demon's head who shrieked in pain, he then dashed to the entrance of the cave "I'll go fetch some food for Rin."

Jaken remained as a little ball in the floor rubbing his head with both hands to ease the pain. All those shrieks caused by Jaken had woken Rin up who looked at him confused as she rubbed her eyes.

"What's wrong, Mr. Jaken?" she asked with a tired voice.

"It's nothing, Rin, go back to sleep" reprimanded the demon.

"Did you say something about a thread?"

He glared at her and sat down still feeling pain caused by his lord's mistreatment.

"Yes…"

"What do you mean by that?" she sat up and yawned "Is it something wrong that happens to Mr. Sesshomaru?"

"If we take it from his point of view… it is."

"Why?"

He sighed.

"Well… the fact that a human saves the life of a demon isn't minor issue" he explained, "it's something that breaks the rules established between races where demons kill humans for pleasure or food and humans hunt demons for revenge or protection."

"And what's the problem of a demon helping a human?" asked Rin remembering when Sesshomaru had saved her own life.

"It's not the same, you foolish girl," he told her off again. "Humans are weak and it's more likely that demons would want to save them out of personal interest. But a human saving a demon's life goes against natural rules; it places the human's power over the demon and it creates an unbreakable thread between human and demon that will join them forever. It will only be settled if the demon returns the favour or if the human dies."

"It doesn't seem to be so serious" muttered Rin.

"It is, for a demon it's a really serious issue "answered Jaken frowning ", however, knowing what happened lots of years ago makes it more complex."

"What happened?"

"Sesshomaru's father, in one of his fights, was severely wounded and, as he hid to fight death itself, he was found and saved by a human. Since that moment, his father lived in perpetual debt with that human, a debt that was settled with a really strong bond and that turned him weak with the passing of time. In spite of this, that threat the Lord's father had with that human ended up blossoming with the birth of a being: Inuyasha. Now you understand why the Lord is so afflicted? Unintentionally, he's beginning to fallow his father's steps, which later lead to his misery, because there is nothing as weakening and insulting for a demon that being tied to a human by means of that thread of destiny."

"Ohh…" Rin said and blinked a few times without understand much of Jaken's hot air, "and is that serious?"

"FOOLISH GIRL, I AM TELLING YOU IT IS!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED.

Hello, everyone! Here I am again presenting a new chapter. Please forgive me for taking so long, remember I am also writing the original one (in Spanish) and after it's publish I translate a chapter for this version (plus I started University and my time is quite tight).

So please be patient with this poor busy writer n.n'

I want to thank your reviews, particularly the constructive critics I receive about the way the story is written, I don't get angry at them, on the contrary, I use them to try and improve a bit more each chapter. So thank you so much _Mikitsukami_ and _danthezijn_ for your opinions about the style! And yes, this story is made in a way you should try to forget it's a translation… I hope I fully achieve that someday xD

I hope to see you soon and not to let you down!

Cheers!


	5. Desperate

Chapter 5: Desperate

He walked unhurriedly through the forest on his way back to the refuge. It had been days since the last time he felt pain, either sharp or mild. As he was thinking about it, his hand travelled to where the shard had been imbedded: his skin was intact as if nothing had been there, the pain had vanished and all his powers had fully returned. His fingers sneaked under his clothes and touched the same spot which that woman had touched days before; he could still feel it warm as if her touch had not disappeared at all. He pursed his lips and looked up at the sky. How is that he could not avoid feeling so frustrated by everything that he was feeling? He was bond to that woman's life as if she had taken not only his life from him, but she had also dragged his mind and thoughts towards herself. He could no longer avoid thinking about her, in her voice, in her touch. He clenched his hand on his chest scratching that place where the shard had caused red marks. That stupid woman who had dominated him with that extreme kindness and consideration. Why him? Why did it have to be him? He did not need her in the least, nor did she need him. Their lives did not use to have any kind of relationship more than feud. She belonged to his brother, to Inuyasha, she was under his care, she was his property. Even though, he could not help remembering that argument he heard in the forest and the smell of her tears. She was unhappy with him; there was something he was doing which caused her sorrow. And even if part of him did not care in the least, the other one was intrigued to know the reason of her pain.

His hand went down to the little green book he hid in his clothes and took it out. There laid her confessions, her secrets. He had not dared to touch it much, but each time he did, he could not help but glance at its pages.

He leaned on a tree and opened it again, this time from the beginning. He wanted to know about her, _all_ about her.

And that was the content of the book: of herself, but also of his brother, of the friends she had made since she came to this era, of enemies… of himself.

 _Yesterday we met Inuyasha's half-brother again. He's such a heartless being! Could you believe he fooled poor Inuyasha with his death mother's image only to discover where was the sword their father had left as heritage? But in the end Inuyasha gave him what he deserved… although he went too far as to cut his arm off… but that man had it coming. Apart from that, we now discovered he has a little girl as a companion. I wonder what could have crossed Sesshomaru's mind as to consider keeping a human's company. Maybe his heart softened a little bit after so many years of loneliness? The little girl is very innocent and I doubt she sees Sesshomaru as a threat, but now I see in his eyes a sparkle that was not there before. I can't assume he's showing feelings or anything like that (he's a really cold being, actually), but he has taken a really huge step. I wonder if someday he'll stop seeing Inuyasha as his enemy and they could ally because, even though he has more companionships now, I am sure Sesshomaru has always felt lonely. I'd love to get to know his warm side because I know he has one, very deep inside._

His eyebrows furrowed, he was offended. He did not know what to think about what he had just read. She then did not think badly of him according to what was written, she did not fear him and even thought he had a good side. Could she be more idiotic? Did she think she knew him and what he felt? He tried to fight against the desire to tear the page away since it was causing him so much anger. He just turned the page and continued reading as he tried to erase those words from his mind, in vain.

 _Inuyasha has left again, it's the third time in a month already. Sometimes he leaves without telling anyone, others, he just looks at me as if begging me to understand it, but says nothing. I know where he goes, to that woman's arms, my ancestor's. Inuyasha does not comprehend the pain it causes me, he doesn't know how my heart shatters when I see him at the distance, leaving. Sometimes I feel my only solace is writing in this diary so as not to drown in my own sorrow. You don't know what it feels to know you can't do nothing, because even if I tell him, he will look at me as if I were an idiot. I know he cares, but his_ _desire_ _to see Kikyo is stronger, and I understand it, I cannot be selfish, I know he loves her, that he must love her more than I could never dream him to love me. But sometimes he confuses me so much, sometimes he is so attentive towards me as if he felt for me the same I feel for him, but then, when he leaves, I feel the few thrills starting to grow inside me drying up. Surely my friends must think I am a fool for allowing_ _it_ _, but I already said it, I can't help but giving him the opportunity to meet my ancestor freely and be happy again as he used to be. Sometimes I feel happy only by knowing he is happy… I wonder if he could be able to do the same for me someday._

"But it isn't the case, he's the selfish one who does not comprehend it" murmured Sesshomaru finally understanding the whole situation, why she felt like that, why she cried.

Without him noticing, the minutes went on passing and soon they turned into hours. He had been reading the book for longer than he had thought. He had passed through many pages of that woman's life, through her personal life, her deepest feelings and her best-kept secrets. Why is that he now felt as if he understood her? And why did he start to feel pity towards her? He gripped the book firmly and closed it abruptly. Everything from her, everything: her words, her acts, the thoughts she had about him, were slowly driving him mad as if she were a kind of drug. He wanted to blame the thread for that, that must be it, that was causing him to lose his reason and was turning him into a being unknown to himself. Never in his life had he stopped so much to think about another being, even less if a miserable human.

He looked up at the afternoon sky, the clouds were slowly gathering together into big piles on his head. He had to end that bond he had with her, he had to find the way to stop his mind torturing him. Or else, it would be harmful for him: he would end up being weak, or it would even kill him, and he had other priorities… he had to defeat Naraku first, to protect Rin… he could not respond to that silent deal he had with that woman just like that and leave everything else behind because he knew those things he feared would happen otherwise: he would lose his powers and who knows what would be of him later if he surrendered to the thread's will.

There was no other explanation to what was happening, he felt desperate, desperate to return that favour to that woman as soon as possible and cut off that damn thread joining him to her, or else he would regret it forever.

He looked down at his hand as if wishing to see something, a red trace in his finger, whatever it could be. But of course, there was nothing there, however the feeling was still present, but more than in his hand, it was present in his chest, inside his heart.

* * *

She threw herself over the bed and sighed heavily. She fixed her eyes on the ceiling, but then her focus changed in accordance to the thread of her thoughts. It had been three days already and Inuyasha had not appeared, that showed he was still mad at her but she was not going to justify him. She pursed her lips, he was being extremely unfair: getting angry for something so stupid as wanting to help someone in need. During those days, she had been away from him, Kagome went through lots of moods and thoughts, she felt anger for the whole situation, sadness because she wondered what was that he still felt for Kikyo and confusion for having felt that strange attraction towards his brother…

Frustrated, she covered her face with both hands and growled. Why is that she could not make those thoughts leave her head? They were annoying and confusing. Of course, it had been for a single second, a strange second in which, somehow, she felt connected to that demon when their skins made contact. Why? Why had she felt her heart pounding desperately inside her chest? She rolled in the bed and looked up wondering when was the last time Inuyasha caused her such feelings as Sesshomaru did.

However, Inuyasha was there, at the other side of the window on which Kagome's eyes fell upon. He was looking back at her reproachfully.

She widened her eyes in surprise and sat up, then opened the window with the same annoyed face he showed.

"What do you want?" she asked bitterly.

"I came to fetch you. How many days of rest do you think you can take? We're all waiting for you!"

She raised an eyebrow, somehow, she casted doubt on the last part of what he had said, it was always him who felt desperate for her to rush back to the feudal era, not their friends.

"Fine" she said and turned her back at him, then started to rummage inside her cupboard for some clothes and stuffed them in her back.

Inuyasha remained silent as he stared at her, there was something strange in Kagome that day. Why did she remain so silent? Why didn't she yell at him for the way he had treated her? It is not that he thought his posture during the argument was wrong but…

"Someone… stole Sesshomaru's sword" he finally stated to break the silence.

"Oh" said Kagome mildly still putting her belongings inside her bag and placing others apart.

"Aren't you worried?" Inuyasha asked as he sat on the bed with folded arms without looking away from her.

She moved from side to side of her bedroom, she seemed much more interested in which objects to put in the bag than in what he was telling her.

"Kagome?"

"Oh, no, not even in the least" she finally answered, quite late, "Sesshomaru asked me to give it back to him and so I did."

"WHAT!?"

Inuyasha stood up and gaped at her with his amber eyes wide open. Kagome looked back at him from over her shoulder not really interested about his reaction.

"I told you already, he asked me to give it to him and I did. The sword was his."

"B-But…!" he began to complain, now he was pale "why did you do that, Kagome? Why are you still conspiring with the enemy? Without that sword, I could have defeated him more easily!"

This time, the young lady glared at him, her eyes darkened, which made him step back scared by the terrifying way he was being looked at. He was paralyzed, he could not believe what he had just heard and the things she had been doing lately, he could not avoid feeling slightly betrayed by her.

"Kagome…" this time the hanyou's voice softened, it hurt him what she was doing mainly because it was his brother they were talking about, one of the first enemies that he had had.

"I did it because I wanted to, Inuyasha" she answered hardly "Sesshomaru now is against Naraku so it'd be a good moment for you to start thinking about who's truly on your side."

Those words offended him, he shut his mouth and sat down on the bed again.

"I am surprised Sesshomaru hasn't tried to kill you yet…" he whispered with sadness this time "I am worried about you, Kagome."

She sighed and lied against the cupboard to look at him plainly: when Inuyasha spoke like that, she felt like melting inside, he erased even the worst anger she would hold against him. Sometimes she wondered if someday she would stop falling for Inuyasha's childish but deep manners and get over all she felt for him.

She wondered if there would come the day in which she would be able to love someone else in the deep way she loved that boy.

Perhaps it was time to make up and leave it all that had happened behind.

* * *

"Rin, Jaken, we're leaving."

"Yes, Mr. Sesshomaru!" answered the girl climbing Ah-Un's back enthusiastically.

"Where are we heading, Milord?" asked Jaken as he imitated Rin.

"To the North, I can feel Naraku's evil presence coming from there."

It was a beautiful day, the sun shone brightly over their heads, the meadow was greener than ever and a faint breeze swayed the flowers around them. They had to continue their journey that day, he had plans to face Naraku once more and this time he would not be so easily defeated. He had learnt his lesson the hardest way and when the time in which both were face to face again, Naraku would encounter a different Sesshomaru.

Their journey by air did not last much since when the sun began to go down, he could hear the unstoppable growling in the little girl's stomach. She had not complained about it, but he knew she was hungry so they went down near a village in search of food.

"Can I go then, Mr. Sesshomaru?" asked Rin, her face had lightened up.

"Go, but be careful," he warned her.

The girl nodded and hopped to the village. He slowly followed her still keeping her in sight. His steps made no sound on the grass. He was going to take care of her from the outskirts of the village to keep an eye on her. Jaken began to follow him pulling Ah-Un's strings but he stopped him raising his hand.

"You'll call too much attention, so stay here" he ordered and kept walking.

Jaken sighed and nodded.

Sesshomaru watched Rin as she got lost behind the houses and he hid between the trees. He could not run the risk to be seen or he would cause a fuss. As the sun got lost in the horizon, the smell of dew mixed with that of the warm food that villagers were cooking in their respective homes. Some dogs barked in the distance, some women stuck their heads out of the windows to call their children inside since it was getting dark while some men walked out to light on the candles in lanterns hanging outside. However, all those smells he felt began to join another that resulted familiar; he looked up the village and he noticed he was starting to grow anxious: it was the smell of mixed blood that he was well-acquainted with.

"It can't be… they're here…" he whispered half annoyed and half relieved.

* * *

"Are you sure it's round here, Miss Kagome?" asked Miroku while looking around.

She nodded.

"I felt the presence of a shard of the Shikon jewel in this same direction, it must be somewhere here."

"Anyhow, it's getting dark;" said Sango "we should start to look for a place to stay for the night."

"I agree," answered the monk with a naughty smile "I will look for a comfortable house to stay in."

Shippo rolled his eyes and Inuyasha sniffed the air with furrowed eyebrows.

"What's happening?" Kagome asked him.

"It's nothing, there are lots of smells mixed and I thought I recognized one of them, but I am not so sure" the hanyou answered and shrugged.

"Good, let's go on then" added Miroku decisively and began to walk further ahead from the rest.

Miroku ended up finding one of the most comfortable and wealthy homes in town to stay. He had made up the typical excuse: that he needed to cleanse bad energies from the house. In exchange, not only did the owner of the house offer them lodging for the night, but also offered to prepare dinner for them which was gladly accepted. His daughter began to serve food to each one and Miroku could not help wooing her with his well-known remarks. This annoyed Sango so much that, when the monk wanted to continue the pending conversation with the demon slayer, she no longer answered him. Kagome sighed and Inuyasha ignored the whole situation feeling a bit uneasy.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha?" asked Shippo.

"It's nothing" he answered, then wolfed down his food and stood up "I'll go for a walk."

"Wait, you can't," the owner stopped him "it is about to get dark and when this happens, we are forbidden to go out."

Miroku frowned by this.

"Why is that?"

"Some creatures wander around the village and they leave their hiding place during the night. They lurk each corner and if someone is out of their house, they devour him."

"Keh! I am not scared by some mere creatures" answered Inuyasha belittling the fact with a gesture of his hand and kept walking.

"But… wait…!" the man went on with his explanation.

But Inuyasha had already left, Kagome and Sango exchanged looks without understanding his behaviour.

"Is there more?" asked Miroku.

"Yes… somehow you can't see those creatures, but when they are near, all lanterns and candles douse, it even seems as if they could be able to extinguish one's inner light."

"How is that?" Miroku encouraged him to talk more.

But Kagome did not wait for more explanations and stood up too.

"Where are you going?" asked the man "You already know it's really dangerous."

"I want to check Inuyasha is OK."

She could not stay there calmly, she was worried about Inuyasha's wellbeing, but she also felt the presence of the shard each time closer which made her anxious knowing that that creature could be lurking around. She strode out the room in search of his companion.

However, as soon as she left the house, she discovered everything was completely normal and extremely quiet; the candles inside the lanterns were lighted up and danced a silent song in the nocturnal breeze. Kagome looked around in all directions but there was no trace of him. She then looked up at the sky: the stars barely shone that night, but what called his attention the most was that the sky was empty of moon.

Her heart sank. It was a night of new moon, but it was not only that: Inuyasha had told her absolutely anything about it and he had left just like that. She walked down the few steps to get to the wet lawn and started to run along the gardens looking even on the roof trying to find him.

"Where are you, Inuyasha?" she asked in a loud voice so he could hear her.

Further away, Sesshomaru began to walk towards the village after noticing Rin could not manage to get some food since in a few minutes everyone had got into their houses without giving her time to ask for it. Now that the streets were empty, he could get into them without being noticed and approach the girl.

"Come here, Rin" he called her.

She turned back and stared sadly at him, she only had a tiny lantern in her hands that one of the men had given her out of pity before he got into his respective house. Sesshomaru turned his back at her and started to walk back to where Jaken remained to leave Rin under his custody.

When they were a few metres far from their destiny, Jaken began to wave at them.

"Mr. Sesshomaru!" said the girl surprised "the candle blew out! I can't see a thing!"

Right before she finished talking, Sesshomaru stopped in his tracks when he felt another presence near them. The girl looked around nervously and stuck closer to him as she shook from her head to her toes, she felt a shivering coldness and a choking sensation.

"Rin, stay behind me!" he growled.

She remained still as he took some steps forward, however, in a fragment of a second, a huge creature rushed out from the bushes near her and leaped on her with its mouth wide open to swallow her whole. The monster looked like a bulky and darkened snake, but it could not even taste a single one of Rin's hairs since Sesshomaru rushed towards the creature and destroyed it using his sword. The monster fell to the ground sliced in half and from its insides sprout something shiny sparkling a strange colour and power.

"Wonderful, M'lord!" greeted Jaken running towards them. As he was a demon as his master, he managed to see normally in the pitch-dark.

"You can relax now, Rin, there's no more danger" he said noticing the girl was still static where he had told her to be; and after that, the flame inside the lantern lighted up again.

She moved and sighed as Sesshomaru bent down to pick what shone between the wet grass covered in dew and the monster's entrails: it was a little corrupted shard from the Shikon jewel. He furrowed his eyebrows while holding the little intensively-shining object of dark aura between his fingers. If he was right, that was what that woman could sense from kilometres around, and the thing only she could purify.

That was the first time he came across with one of those fragments, he knew the legends told about the jewel, but he had never longed to possess it. He was already too strong to wish for it, specially knowing it could corrupt the minds of those who possessed it and did not know how to manage its power.

"It's a shard of the powerful Shikon jewel… what are you going to do with that, Lord?" asked Jaken.

"Nothing right now" he mumbled and kept it to himself "I am not going to use it, if that's what you're thinking about."

"Demons could chase us to get that, M'lord."

He got no answer, so he continued:

"And Inuyasha along with that wo—"

Sesshomaru quickly glared at the demon. He paralyzed immediately, the golden shot from Sesshomaru's eyes caused him fear, particularly when he looked at him so sharply. Later, he looked at Rin carefully.

"I will get something for you myself" he said trying to cheer her up "besides, there are more creatures down there in the town, I can feel them" added after hearing a voice at the distance which broke the calming silence of the night: it was that woman, he could not help recognizing her voice. Without noticing, he contracted his face and his breathing sped up. "Stay here with Jaken."

* * *

"Inuyasha?" she called him once more.

"Stop screaming already, here I am" grumbled the man who was standing in one of the darkest parts of the garden.

Kagome stared at him feeling relief. As she was thinking, he had turned into a human because of the moonless night. His dark long hair fell on his back and his dog ears had disappeared leaving behind a pair of human ears. His eyes were no longer amber, but dark as hers, looking at her with certain shame. She knew Inuyasha loathed his human form because it made him feel vulnerable.

"Oh my… you didn't need to leave like that" she told him off once her state of relief vanished.

"You came here only to scold me?"

"Of course not! But I was worried for you, you idiot!"

Inuyasha blushed a bit and looked away from her. However, Kagome could not have the time to say something else since she began to feel the presence of a shard even closer than before.

"It's… near…" she whispered.

Inuyasha suddenly seemed to notice it and straightened up. His heart was racing inside his chest: he was not going to be able to do much in this new form. But he would still fight against the creature stalking them.

The candles inside the lanterns consumed immediately. The surrounding turned cold and distressing. Giving that before there was not that much light, now the visibility was minimum. Kagome took the bow from her back and pulled back its string, she could barely distinguish any shape in that dense darkness. Inuyasha's case was not much different with his new human senses.

Not very far away, a crack was heard. She aimed the arrow towards the place she thought the sound came, but everything was so dark that she could barely distinguish anything at all. But, further from where her sight was placed, a creature began to rise. It emitted strange guttural-like sounds. She gasped and Inuyasha squinted to see something.

"We should call the others…" she whispered with a trembling voice.

"No, that'd be worse."

The creature was moving slowly and started to move towards them unnoticed. It creeped as the gigantic snake it was and when it was a few meters from them, Inuyasha perceived the slow movement it made against the grass and held Kagome's arm to quickly pull her away.

"There, it's there!" he alerted her.

She aimed her arrow towards that place and shot. However, as she did not see the monster, she failed and the arrow stuck against a tree behind it. Noticing the sudden offensive, the creature opened its mouth and rushed towards them. Inuyasha moved in front of Kagome and raised his fists to fight the shadowy monster back.

The big snake rose in front of him and swallowed him hitting Kagome with its tail. She fell on the ground not too far away and gasped again when she understood what had happened. She screamed her partner's name and prepared another arrow to shoot the monster, but she could not do it, what if she hit Inuyasha? In his human form he would not resist the attack. But her heart was about to collapse, she screamed his name once more but he did not answer, he was still fighting the monster back inside its mouth but he was finally swallowed whole.

Once Inuyasha was out, the creature headed towards Kagome to do the same. She was motionless, she only shook. The bow fell from her hands and she covered her head with them, she was defenceless, she could not do a thing without hurting Inuyasha. The creature opened its mouth again and jumped towards Kagome.

She yelled, but everything happened so fast: extremely fast steps rushing towards her caused a flash, a long golden whip lighted the place and pierced the snake which divided in two and fell to the ground.

Kagome could swear that, in that fraction of a second in which she had the opportunity to perceive what was going on, the light of that whip shone in other eyes of the same colour.

The monster fell with a sharp knock and, as if nothing had happened, the flames in the candles inside the lanterns decorating the garden lighted on again. Kagome's big and scared eyes met those golden ones who looked back at her coldly, energetically, anxiously.

Sesshomaru had answered to her screaming for help, and there he was, standing in front of her.

He had saved her life.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Hi everyone! And again I want to apologize for taking so long in updating… but as I have said before, this is not an easy year for me and I am a bit delayed with many things.

I hope you have liked the story so far! Thank you so much for all your reviews and encouragement! 3

See you soon!


	6. Failure

Chapter 6: Failure

So out of control was her heart beating inside her chest that she could swear it was going to explode. She could not do more than to stare at him standing there with his eyes blazing by the light of the lanterns seeming to flame at the rhythm of the fire of the candles. Her throat had gone dry and she could barely move her lips to utter a word. She did not know what was keeping her motionless in the floor: it could be either the fear that creature had provoked on her or Sesshomaru's petrifying gaze seeming to steal her soul from her body.

Seconds passed and they remained staring into each other's eyes. It was finally Sesshomaru who broke eye-contact by looking towards the creature torn in half; the blood was spreading in the grass and it still had that dark glow in its head. The woman also looked down at it and in that moment, her mind came back to the reality she was into.

She had completely forgotten about it.

That monster had swallowed Inuyasha.

She suddenly turned pale, stood up feeling desperate and got closer to the creature; however, she did not dare touching its sticky body. Sesshomaru frowned once he understood what she wanted and took a few steps back.

He was going to grant her that wish.

Why?

"Step back" he ordered which she obeyed immediately.

Another golden thread sprouted from the demon's fingers and began to cut the creature's body repeatedly to set his half-brother free. One of the cuts revealed a red aori.

"There!" Kagome pointed and, trying not to think about how gloppy she felt the skin and even the insides of that creature, she opened the cut Sesshomaru had made revealing a sleeping Inuyasha still in his human form.

Seeing Inuyasha's appearance surprised and disgusted Sesshomaru, he had never seen him in that form, so defenceless and disarmed, he was sure not even Tessaiga worked for him in his weak state. Despite that, he said absolutely nothing as he would have in the past, he did not know why, but he was no longer disgusted by being in the presence of a human, —although, as that human was Inuyasha, he could not avoid looking at him with certain resentment— he had got used to that inferior race, and he felt annoyed to admit it, even if it was to himself only.

Kagome wrapped both arms around Inuyasha to pull him away from the giant snake's body. Sesshomaru did not even offer her his help, but he looked away from them once more still feeling annoyed.

"Inuyasha, can you hear me?" asked Kagome barely shaking him.

Why was she trying so hard? Why was that woman so kind with the miserable of Inuyasha? Human kindness… he had thought about that days before, humans had kindness, but she was a different case: despite everything that Inuyasha could make to her, she would not care. If she could help him, Sesshomaru, when he was at the verge of death, then she could help any other being without a second thought.

"Inuyasha!"

"He's alive" he said with such an extreme coldness that gave Kagome the chills, "you should better take him where I can't see him if you want to keep him that way."

Kagome looked at him and then nodded, she knew Sesshomaru was not serious about it, he would not be able to harm Inuyasha being unconscious. So she started to draw Inuyasha through the lawn to take him inside the mansion. When she was close enough, she called her friends who rushed out immediately in surprise for what had happened: they had not taken notice of it, they had not even heard the mess that was going out outside. Miroku helped her with Inuyasha and both dragged him into one of the bedrooms.

"He'll be fine, his vital signs are ok" whispered Sango while taking his pulse.

"What an idiot, it was his fault for going out without telling us anything" Shippo groaned.

Kagome sighed and bent over Inuyasha to place one of her hands on his forehead. It was warm, maybe he was starting to run a fever. She feared that monster had poisoned him, so she rummaged inside her bag and took out the same potion she had prepared for Sesshomaru days before. She leaned Inuyasha's head covered by black hairs and made him drink it. He seemed to recover his normal colour after some seconds and his expression turned calm. Kagome smiled by his body's positive signs and moved his fringe aside from his now wet forehead.

Inuyasha opened his eyes slightly and they wandered around the ceiling first, he had not regained complete consciousness yet, but such action gave her hope so she smiled broadly and leaned on him a bit more.

"Inuyasha, can you hear me?"

He looked at her through his half-opened eyes, he then opened his lips and took some seconds to answer. It seemed that he had a raging fever by what he said:

"Ki-Kikyo…"

Shippo gasped, he then began to kick Inuyasha's arm madly. Kagome rose her hand so he would stop while still smiling at Inuyasha; she kept on caressing his forehead and whispered:

"Here I am, please, take a rest. You'll get better soon."

Kagome's voice was barely heard. Miroku and Sango exchanged looks, but they preferred to remain silent. Inuyasha seemed to understand the woman's words and smiled before he closed his eyes and fell deeply asleep.

Kagome slowly stood up, she did not turn to look at anyone. Shippo followed her with his sad eyes, but she left without speaking a word.

She still had something to do, she could not show weakness yet.

She could not cry.

She walked out of the mansion back into the garden where Sesshomaru was still waiting leaning against a tree. She bowed to him without looking into his eyes.

"I thank you for saving my life."

He did not answer, he was not going to talk about the issue, so he stretched out his hand to give her the shards those two creatures he had killed on that day were carrying.

Kagome looked at them in surprise, she then rose her big shining eyes towards him. Was it true? Was he handing her the pearl shards? Was he not interested in keeping them and growing stronger with their help? She stretched out her shaking hand and took them, her clumsy fingers brushed against Sesshomaru's soft and intoxicating skin and her heart missed a beat.

"T-Thanks" she whispered trying not to bite her lower lip and kept the shards in her closed hand. "I think you're… one of the few…" she stopped, she did not want to mention the word 'demon' to describe Sesshomaru, "who hands me the shards with no intentions of using them for evil."

"I am not interested in them" he answered, however, and tilted his head, his long silver hair swayed in his back, "those fragments do not offer the kind of power I am looking for."

"Then… are you still looking for more power?" she asked with a hint of sadness in her voice, she could not help it.

"Not now, right now I am after another objective: Naraku."

Kagome nodded with a little smile in her lips. The youkai could immediately grasp what was going on, he could read her gestures once more: her bitter smile, her big round and shiny eyes, her vague movements… something was happening to her again. Something had taken place when she left to take care of his half-brother. She had returned differently. This time there was no salty smell in the air he could smell, but he could sense—or understand—how she felt.

"Well, I should… go back… inside" she muttered, her eyes fixed on the ground, then turned back as if trying to escape, not from Sesshomaru himself, but from the whole situation in which she was involved… from Inuyasha… from everyone else.

"Why do you do that?" Sesshomaru asked breaking the silence while she was in half way across the garden.

Kagome stopped in her tracks, she turned slightly to face him.

"Do what?"

"Why do you still follow someone who doesn't care for you? What is your motivation to do such thing?"

Kagome opened her lips, she would have never imagined those words coming straight from Sesshomaru's mouth. She just bit her tongue and looked down at her feet. What could she answer? He would not understand her situation or her feelings at all. He was a demon, he was a cold and solitaire creature. What could he understand about love?

"Does it even satisfy you?"

She shook her head.

"Sometimes… we must do sacrifices for those we love."

"Even if the other person does not value what you do?"

"Sometimes that's not important… but what you feel when you're next to the one you love… is worth it."

Kagome's voice was cracking with every word.

"You're just a pathetic human."

She rose her eyes towards him and smiled. No words, just a smile. She knew he would not understand it, and she was not trying him to. His nature was just different than hers.

"Maybe you'll understand what love is someday" she said at length, Sesshomaru furrowed his brow, then looked away from her, "and when that happens… you'll understand it's not pathetic at all."

Sesshomaru growled under his breath and disappeared between the trees. Kagome looked at the spot he had gone missing and felt really confused. Why would he bother to ask her such questions? Was Sesshomaru questioning her decision to stay with Inuyasha? She looked at the already purified shards cupper in her hands still unable to understand what could be crossing his mind. And, before turning back towards the house, she wondered how had he discovered what troubled and upset her so much.

She was pathetic, he could not understand how could she spend so much time next to someone who only hurt her. Why was she so masochist? His stupid brother would never value her, he was too stupid and blind to notice he was behaving like a child. However, if she wanted to suffer for the rest of her life, she was free to do so.

He cared for what was troubling her. Why did he care so much?

* * *

"Lord Sesshomaru, is everything all right?"

"Yes" he said sharply, not looking at his servant.

"Have you… taken care of it?" he asked shily.

Sesshomaru understood what he meant. He knew Jaken was talking about the thread that still connected him with that human. He wanted to know if he could save her life and settle the whole issue once and for all.

"I tried."

Jaken gaped at him, confused as he followed his steps.

"What do you mean, M'lord?"

"Stop bothering me, Jaken, or I'll kill you."

The little demon turned pale and stopped following him. Sesshomaru kept walking, his master seemed frustrated and in a really bad mood. What could have happened in his absence? Jaken knew he had rushed away after hearing that woman screaming for his master's stupid brother, Inuyasha. After hearing her own screams, Jaken imagined his master had saved her from another of those creatures to pay off that debt he had with the human so as to be set free from the doom torturing him. However, he could not understand why it did not seem to work, or why his master had said he had tried. He sighed and rose his eyes towards the dark sky.

The truth was that Sesshomaru had never saved Kagome, he had arrived at that place before there was any danger around. And when he spotted the snake hid in the shadows, he did nothing, but stayed hidden and waited for the moment in which the monster attacked the woman to interfere and save her. He thought that would be enough, but actually it was not, he had waited for her to be in real danger to save her, his lack of action had caused it. He had not really saved her life. So, the thread was not broken, there were not chains that had set him free, everything had been a failure. His trying to settle his debt had not been genuine either.

He cursed under his breath and punched the nearest tree, he could never get rid of what he had with that woman. And the worst part, the thing that haunted him the most, was that not thinking about her was harder with each passing day. He could not help asking himself why is that she acted in such way towards his brother, he could not avoid feeling interested and annoyed at the same time. He was also pathetic, he was growing weaker, he was allowing her to fill and dominate his mind completely.

* * *

"Are you OK, Kagome?" asked Sango sitting next to her friend lying in the bed with her eyes fixed on the ceiling, lost in her thoughts.

Kagome nodded.

"Are you thinking about… Inuyasha?"

"It's impossible not to."

"I'm sorry for what happened."

"It's nobody's fault, Sango, not even yours. He was talking nonsense."

"Yes, but…"

Kagome sat up and looked at her tenderly, she had been trying to assimilate it for a long time. Each time it was harder to face reality, but she could not deny what she saw and felt each day.

"His heart does not belong to me, and never has… and I doubt it will someday."

Sango swallowed painfully and looked back at her with sadness.

"Are you thinking about letting him go?"

"I…" she whispered and looked down "I don't think I can… not so easily."

"Maybe you still have hope?"

"There's always hope, Sango" she smiled bitterly again, "even if it is small. However, as long as I am near Inuyasha, I'd never be able to ignore what I feel, or how he makes me feel when he remembers I exist, or when he has a moment to think about me."

"You deserve someone who knows you exist all the time, and who thinks about you more than Inuyasha does. You're not here to share, Kagome."

She nodded. She knew Sango was right, but it was going to be hard, really hard.

"What about Koga?" her friend joked.

She stole a smile from Kagome's lips. She then shook her head.

"Koga is a dear friend and I appreciate him a lot."

"What about Sesshomaru?"

Kagome's smile faded, Sango did not seem to be joking this time.

"What do you mean?"

"I followed you when you walked out of the room, Kagome, I knew you were with him. I know that he's been looking for you only since the time you found him in the forest."

She lowered her head turning reddish.

"Those were coincidences, last time he needed my help to get his sword back."

Her friend rose her eyebrow.

"And now?"

"He… came to help us."

"Help you both?"

"Yes, Inuyasha and me."

"Or only you?"

Kagome bit her lip and shook her head again.

"You're putting ideas I don't like into my head, Sango, please."

The demon-slayer rolled her eyes, but then smiled. Even if her friend tried to deny or avoid the topic, she was not going to stop suspecting of what was happening. And her foundations about Sesshomaru's interest for Kagome were stronger now that she had heard his peculiar questions. How is that he cared about his half-brother's love affairs?

"Come here" Sango said and pulled Kagome into a hug.

Both wrapped each other with their arms and the priestess rested her head on her friend's shoulder. Knowing she had support in that moment filled her with peace.

"Thanks, Sango" she whispered.

When the sun rose again, when the first sunbeams peered from the horizon and sneaked through the mansion's windows and doors, Inuyasha's hair began to turn back to white strand by strand. After some minutes from dawn, the half-demon opened his amber eyes and blinked to clear up his vision. He suddenly sat up and looked around in alarm since certain memories began to enter his mind. However, when his eyes landed on Shippo and Miroku sleeping in the same room, his heart sunk and he scratched his head in confusion.

The last thing he knew had happened was that a big monster had swallowed him and then… then he had seen Kikyo. He frowned, it was impossible for Kikyo to have saved him from that danger, right? He moved towards Shippo and shook him to wake him up.

The little kit opened his eyes and stared at him half-asleep. When he recognized it was Inuyasha who looked back at him, he smiled a bit.

"Oh, you're finally OK, you big fool."

"What happened to me, Shippo?"

The kit rubbed his eyes and yawned before answering. "Well… you turned into a human and then you let a huge snake eat you. Kagome brought you here and gave you some medicine to recover."

"Kagome? Is she OK?"

"She is completely unharmed" the kit smiled.

"And… wasn't there anyone else?"

By his tone, Inuyasha seemed upset. Shippo shook his head. He had not mentioned Kikyo, then… she had not showed up. Maybe he just had dreamed of her, but he could swear she was there in front of his own eyes and had spoken to him in such a sweet way… he also remembered she had caressed his face and head. He touched his own cheek and dropped his ears in grief.

"Good, go back to sleep" said the kit and lied down again leaving a broken-hearted Inuyasha lost in his thoughts.

As expected, when everyone woke up, Kagome barely spoke to him or looked at him. She was deeply hurt but not mad because she knew there was nothing she could do with Inuyasha's feelings for Kikyo: his love for Kikyo was deep and sincere; he had been hers first. The rest did not speak a word, not even when they left the mansion and restarted their journey towards the forest. They were not going to stick their nose in their business.

And there, far away but still far enough so as not to be sensed, a figure leaned against one of the tallest trees to watch them go, or better said, to watch her go. It was each day harder to contain the mix of feelings battling inside his head; she was there, in each thought, wherever he set eyes on, he thought about her.

Sesshomaru wondered if his father had felt exactly the same when the bond between him and that woman, Inuyasha's mother, was created. He clenched his teeth remembering his father back then: he seemed so distracted, so immersed in his own thoughts when he trained with him, or when he was with him and his mother, his family. Her mother was clearly offended when she discovered that her husband was attached to a woman. She would get even angrier when he walked away without saying a word, they knew he was going to meet that filthy human. "We'll practise more later" his father had told him and left without a second thought. "But father, I want to become stronger, don't go just yet!" Sesshomaru begged him. But his father payed no attention to his complains and just walked away. Once, he followed him without being noticed towards the outskirts of a town; he hid between the bushes and witnessed a scene which caused him an extreme repulsion: his father meeting a mere human holding a little bump tightly with both arms. The eyes of the little Sesshomaru opened wide but he could not grasp what was happening, but when his father took hold of the bump and it started to produce weak groans, he understood: it was a baby. His father had bore that woman a child, another son, that bump from there was his brother, his half-brother. "Inuyasha will be his name" said his father caressing the baby's tiny head "you'll be a strong boy and you will protect your mother, you'll do great things, my son." Little Sesshomaru clenched his teeth furiously, he wished to scream his father he was an imbecile and a traitor, that his mother was still there waiting for him to return and he barely cared for it, he did not even care about him, about his son who had begged him not to go. But now he had another son to take care of, a son that carried human blood in his veins, a shame, he was a scum for the Taisho family.

Sesshomaru's fist turned white as he remembered that scene and looked up at the sky. Then was he following his father's steps? But he did not have a family to leave behind, Rin was not his daughter, and he was certain that nothing could torn him away from Rin as his father did with him. In turn, he realized that seeing her mother suffering so much for his father's abandonment helped to feed the strange feeling of empathy he felt for that human; he knew and understood what Kagome felt each time Inuyasha left her to see another woman.

Was he going to be any different? He knew he could not go against the stream and doing nothing would lead him to finish like his father. He did not want to divert from his new mission now that he was each time closer to find Naraku with each passing day.

But he could not bear it, each night, he used the time in which Jaken and Rin were sleeping to read the book that belonged to that human. He had finished it for the third time already and yet it felt as if he had not squeezed all the information he wished to know out of it. He wanted more, much more. It was not enough to know what had happened to her and what she felt towards his brother who barely seemed to value her. She had said that he, Sesshomaru, was lonely. How did she know that? Did she sense it? Could she read him so easily, could she guess what annoyed him about his own existence? He had always been lonely; when his father walked away, when his mother payed no attention to him for thinking and lamenting for her husband's absence each time he was away. He had grown up feeling lonely and that loneliness shaped his personality. Now that Jaken and Rin kept his company, they covered that feeling partially, but sometimes he could not avoid it, the past was always chasing him and the product of all that pain he suffered was Inuyasha.

But that woman… that woman understood him, as he understood her. It was a shared feeling, it was the thread joining them together more and more. He looked down at the book as if wishing for it to speak to him and advise him about the situation he was facing. He wished it to tell him how to overcome the obstacles that obscured his mind; but the only thing the book caused on him was the wish to smell her perfume. So he brought it closer to his face and inhaled.

Indeed, it smelled like her.

Like Kagome.

"Kagome?"

Sesshomaru rose his golden gaze at Rin who had opened her eyes and stared at him, sleepy, she then turned her head to look around as if looking for something.

"What?" he asked wondering why the girl had pronounced the woman's name.

"You called her name, Mr. Sesshomaru", Rin whispered and she moved so as to find a more comfortable position against Ah-Un's side closing her eyes again, "were you also dreaming?"

He blinked and put the book down.

It was true. He had called her by her name.

 _Damn it_ , he thought.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

Hello! I want to beg you to forgive me for not having posted anything for such a long time. I've had a lot of personal problems lately and it's been really hard for me both to translate and write this story. I hope the storm soon leaves my head and I can post more regularly 😊

Thank u so much for ur support!


	7. A Traitor

Chapter 7: A traitor

 _Kagome; Kagome; Kagome._

Her name was echoing in his head composing an unstoppable and eternal melody torturing him each day. However, he was slowly getting used to it and he was beginning to like it in the deepest of his mind. Not only was her name everywhere, but also her face, her smell… he carried her smell around with him, hidden in his clothes as if it were a well-kept treasure. Every night he would stare at that book as if he wanted to discover the endless secrets that she hadn't written there yet, he wanted to absorb everything he could about her; he had already read and reread it countless times and he still hoped to discover any hidden message, anything written, something new for him to decode. But he had read it from beginning to end and the book had nothing more than the same immutable words he had visualized the first time.

"Mr. Sesshomaru…"

He looked up at the little girl that had walked towards him while he was distracted with both eyes fixed in the book. He quickly put it into his clothes, but it was already too late, the little girl's eyes had set on the object and she looked at it doubtfully. Since when had he turned so careless? Were his thoughts so scattered that he could lose attention on what was happening around him?

"What's that?"

Sesshomaru shook his head, he would have wanted to keep his secret safe.

"A book."

"A book?" she smiled, "is it yours?"

"Yes", he lied in a low voice.

"What is it about?"

"Nothing in particular" he dodged the question and he looked away from her bound to walk away from both the girl and her uncomfortable questions.

Rin stared at him puzzled. She then smiled and handed him a flower she was holding in her little hand.

Sesshomaru looked at the little one's gift. He remembered she had previously offered him one when he was weak and about to pass out… and he had taken it. This time he craved to do the same, so he stretched out his long fingers and held the white delicate flower. He didn't use to do that before. In the past, he would never pick one or stop his way to stare at flowers as he was doing right now in front of the girl's amazed smile.

"Mr. Jaken was wrong."

"What?"

Sesshomaru stopped looking at the flower and placed both golden eyes on her.

"He said you'd never debase yourself to accept a flower."

The demon blinked many times feeling astonished by the remark.

Yes, it was true.

It used to be true.

His gaze softened, and he pet Rin's head still holding the flower she had given him with his index and thumb.

"Such things you say…"

She laughed.

He had grown soft, weak.

But he liked the new things he was feeling… at heart, but he liked them.

* * *

One, two, three objects flew over the place and fell around the young lady of black hair as she rummaged in her big yellow bag. Her intrigued partners stared at her, Shippo started to run around to dodge the flying objects.

"No, it can't be, it can't be!" she said desperately.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" asked Inuyasha, he then turned pale, "don't tell me you lost the shards!"

"No, big fool, I keep them well-safe" she said and, giving up, let herself sit on the floor, "it's just… my diary… I can't find my secret diary, I think I lost it."

"The one you were always writing in?"

She nodded.

"Maybe you forgot it in your time" Inuyasha rolled his eyes. It was something lacking importance for him.

"Don't you remember the last time you saw it?" asked Miroku.

She shook her head.

"No, I'm sure I had it in my bag since before going back home and I didn't take it out."

"Maybe you'll need to get a new one" added Sango.

None of them understood the importance of Kagome's diary. Firstly, because it was not used in that time they were in: "who would like to capture his deepest and most shameful secrets in a piece of paper that could fall into hands of strangers?" (that had been one of Inuyasha's remarks); secondly, the things she had written there were her most intense emotions, she had opened her heart and had written about her feelings… if the diary had fallen into the wrong hands… what could be the outcome? Would he share it with the world? Would he blackmail her? Her heart began to pound crazy just by the thought of it.

"Don't be sad, Kagome" said Shippo and patted her arm.

"It's a trifle after all" added Inuyasha.

Kagome glared at him.

"You don't get it" she said under her breath with anger and began to put all her belongings back into her yellow bag.

Things had not stopped being tense between them, and those situations were present more often than not, but their friends had already got used to the awkwardness their arguments created.

The afternoon went well, they had lunch and continued their journey until it began to get dark. Inuyasha led the way and the rest followed at a distance, particularly Kagome who had hanged back from the rest of her friends not only for having the opportunity to stare at the beautiful meadow unfolding like a greenish living carpet at her feet, but also to set her free from her tormenting feelings leading her towards Inuyasha over and over again. Sometimes the pain was too much to bear or to conceal; it still echoed in her ears the name Inuyasha had used to call her while she was attending him that moonless night. She still felt that sharp pain in her chest, the need to cry. He was really unfair, but he was not to blame for loving someone else. She was the one to blame for not forgetting him, it was only her who had difficulties in letting him go. She grasped the strap of her bag tighter and looked up at the man: his long white hair swung as he walked. He was not aware of what she was feeling. Of how much she suffered because of his ignorance, or because of his disregard. And everyone was surprised at how much she suffered and bore and also questioned her unnecessary suffering. But it was not only her friends who questioned her. That silver swinging matched the silver shining of the moon over them, and while she stared at it, for a short moment she could swear she saw another figure in front of her, a taller, slimmer, longer-haired and more imponent-walking Inuyasha. She shook her head and stared at him once more. It was him again. That one her mind had shaped was not Inuyasha. She scratched her head feeling uncomfortable for understanding where her crazy mind was driving her. "Why do you still follow someone who doesn't care for you?". Those had been Sesshomaru's exact words… those words that she could not erase from her mind since he had pronounced them and the feeling had grown since she had had that conversation with Sango that same night. Why someone who cared almost nothing about her existence suddenly showed interest in her relationship with his brother? Was it that Sesshomaru didn't want her for Inuyasha? Kagome laughed under her breath, it would be hilarious if Sesshomaru began to take care of his brother's romantic life. Her giggles died in a sigh, she was slowly bending for Sango's silly wild guesses… and thinking about such things seemed so hair-brained and imaginative… she was simply getting carried away. She had to stop thinking about that, in his words, in Sesshomaru.

Suddenly she bumped into Miroku's back and gasped when she landed on her butt.

"What's the matter?" she asked half angry, half scared.

Everyone had stopped in their tracks, she stood up quickly as soon as she noticed her friends' pale faces. She then understood the reason and her heart pounded: there was an evil presence not too far away, a well-known one… very well-known.

"There's no doubt, that must be Naraku" Inuyasha growled and began to sniff the air "We've got to catch him!"

Further away, a shape was moving over their heads, a snow-white figure followed by a two-headed beast with a little girl and a demon of the same size for riders. Sesshomaru took notice of them and looked down at the group from up in the sky, he was heading towards the same place the presence came. There was no doubt he wished to have another encounter with Naraku and defeat him once and for all. Inuyasha glared at him, but then looked away towards the place the presence came, the rest ignored the youkai, but Kagome stared at him for a long time and whispered "be careful" without noticing. Sesshomaru also placed his golden eyes on her and had a hard time looking away from that human, but he did it with some effort and groaned for having distracted himself with such trivialities. Nevertheless, he had managed to read her lips and his heart skipped a beat.

"Let's go!" Miroku hurried and began to run away with Shippo on his shoulder.

Inuyasha, however, didn't follow him right away, but he stayed to stare at Kagome whose eyes were still fixed on his brother as he flew away at the distance. In that moment, the hanyou could not understand the mixed thoughts and feelings her mind and heart were enduring.

"Climb on my back" he said, as always, to get there faster.

"No, thanks" she answered coming back from her trance and staring at him sharply, feeling decided about it, she then noticed Sango had also stopped a bit further from Inuyasha and, further back, Miroku and Shippo surprised by the group's lack of reaction, "I'll go with Sango."

Inuyasha's ears dropped. He was being rejected, but it was not time to be dramatic, so his face hardened, he turned back and began to run. Sango looked at Kagome with a little sad smile, her friend was trying to get over him, to put some distance between them, and she knew it hurt her, she did, but what Kagome was doing was the best. After all, Kagome had to move out from what was hurting her to be able to heal her wounds afterwards.

Kiara transformed for Sango and Kagome to climb on her. The priestess hugged her friend's body tightly as if looking for comfort.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes" answered Kagome.

"We have to be careful, Naraku could be creeping up on us" she warned so Kagome nodded and both hurried to reach the monk so he'd climb on Kirara's back too.

Shippo jumped to Inuyasha's shoulder.

"There's a force field straight ahead!" Miroku warned.

A huge forest sprout out in front of them covered by a giant white bubble in its majority. Inuyasha stopped in his tracks and Kirara did the same. That field was not like the others Naraku had created. Sesshomaru was already there analysing his enemy's strange defence with those little golden eyes of his; Rin and Jaken were looking at it too, a bit more curious. The youkai rose his hand to touch it, but the field was so powerful that not even he could penetrate it, so he retreated his hand and flipped it to look at the result: his palm was totally dark. When he noticed the rest had already arrived, he turned to face Inuyasha and spoke to him with a dry voice:

"This field will try to dissolve anyone trying to pass through it, so keep your distance" this last thing he said furtively looking at Kagome "not even Tessaiga will get to break it."

"Khe! That's what you think!" Inuyasha said as he began to draw his sword.

"Be careful, Inuyasha" Shippo advised and jumped from his shoulder back to Miroku's.

Inuyasha nodded and tried to make way into the barrier as he had done so many times before, but as soon as the sword's blade touched the protection field, Inuyasha was blown in the air and landed not very far from it.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped and rushed towards him to help him up. She held him by one of his arms and pulled up, "are you ok?"

He nodded with tightly-clenched teeth. Kagome looked up at the force field that didn't even show alteration signals caused by Tessaiga when she bumped into Sesshomaru's penetrating gaze. She opened her eyes wide feeling her strong heartbeat and her face warming up under the demon's amber eyes. Each passing second in which he looked at her, she felt as if he was telepathically questioning her, he repeated that question over and over again inside her head. Sesshomaru's half-opened lips, like wishing to formulate a question, closed and looked back at the big white bubble as if he considered it best to ignore her.

"Could it be that we'd also fail in trying to pass?" asked Miroku and got closer to the field, he touched it with his sceptre and, consecutively, it was immediately repelled "damn, who could have made this?"

"It's white magic" Kagome whispered and all eyes landed on her again.

"Yes, it is." The one who had spoken was a little girl. It was Kanna, one of Naraku's creations that had revealed herself in a fraction of a second and was looking at them from the inner side of the field. "Kikyo created it as a favour."

"What!? Kikyo!?" barked Inuyasha and moved away from Kagome's grasp to walk towards Kanna with a menacing posture while holding Tessaiga so tight that his knuckles turned white; his face had hardened and his pupils dilatated, "what did you do with her!?"

"She's in the heart of this forest giving us her protection, she's making us a big favour" she answered with her voice lacking expression.

"YOU'RE WICKED!" he barked, he was about to hit the field with his sword again.

"Calm down, Inuyasha, you're behaving like a kid."

It was Sesshomaru who spoke, unequivocally, not even looking at him. Inuyasha glared at him, for a second, he seemed to consider what he was trying to do lacked sense since he was going to be blown again as soon as he tried to make way using force.

A taller kid with an empty look walked in and stood next to Kanna. It was Kohaku. Kagome stared at Sango now who had tuned pale, it wasn't the first time she saw her brother escorting one of Naraku's creations, but each time she saw him like that, her heart weakened. She held her boomerang's strings as tight as Inuyasha held Tessaiga.

"Just pure-hearted humans can get in and out of this field created by Kikyo, so you're wasting your time in here, leave."

Those were Kanna's last words before turning away and leaving along with Kohaku. Both got lost into the forest's gloom.

"That was Kohaku" Rin pointed out to Sesshomaru remembering that boy that had taken care of her when she was captive.

"Silly girl, that's the enemy" said Jaken sharply.

"That bastard Naraku…" Sango sobbed and bit her lower lip.

"There must be a way to get in, then… we have to stop Kikyo to vanish the field…" murmured Kagome understanding the situation and taking a step forward.

She walked towards the big barrier with her arm stretched out to touch it. And, as if it was a bubble itself, her fingers trespassed it, then her whole body. A little hand held hers as she walked into the field and, before she noticed, she heard a gasp coming from her partners followed by Sesshomaru's altered voice calling the little girl he protected. Kagome turned and understood that not only had her successfully trespassed Kikyo's barrier, but also Rin had sneaked into it too.

"What are you doing, Rin?" Asked Kagome, surprised.

"Kohaku is my friend, Kagome" she answered and rose her eyes towards the forest's endless depth "I want to help him."

"Rin, come back here" Sesshomaru repeated with authoritarianism.

She shook her head.

"Kagome needs me, I'll go find that woman with her so you can come in too."

The young woman looked at her friends, she hoped they could understand how serious the situation was and that she was trying to do the right thing. Inuyasha looked back at her with eyes filled with depression, he wanted her to help Kikyo, there was no doubt about it, and she was going to do it, she was going to grant him that wish. But also, she wanted to help her friends getting into the field so they would be even closer to Naraku.

"At least I'll try to weaken the field, so as soon as you have the chance, walk through it" she suggested and looked at Sesshomaru "don't worry, I'll take good care of Rin, I'm sure she'll be of great help."

Sesshomaru looked at her severely, he could not say a word, his lips were sealed. When both women he cared about the most in that moment of his life turned their backs at him and ran away, he felt an invisible hand squishing his racing heart. He begged them to be careful in silence. But at the same time, he could not help but feeling Helpless by not being able to do a thing. He was useless, and they were the only ones who could help him pass. After that moment, he'd manage the whole issue.

"I fear for Kagome" Shippo sobbed and held Miroku's hair.

"We must trust Mrs. Kagome will help us in."

Inuyasha looked at them nervously and began to walk around, he could not contain himself, he cursed and mumbled. Sango was static in her place staring at the spot where her brother had vanished and Sesshomaru was exactly the same, he did not have enough strength to look away in case Kagome and Rin would run back to him asking for his help.

"Milord, don't worry about them, they'll be fine." Jaken tried to convince him.

He didn't answer. His fists were tightly clenched and with each passing second, he clenched them more as the tormenting thought of just having to wait fell on them as the night fell on their heads.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kagome and Rin were holding hands as they walked through the forest straight to its heart where Kikyo was supposed to be found. The girl didn't seem nervous, she just looked around at every direction as if she was anxious about finding someone unknown between the trees. Kagome was holding her bow with her free hand, alert about any threaten that they could suddenly encounter.

"If something happens, I want you to hide" Kagome warned the girl.

She nodded. They kept walking for a long moment until they could take a glimpse of a palace at the distance, a long thread of white light sprout from it, the same colour of the field covering their heads. Kikyo's soul collectors flew over the place seeming nervous which made Kagome grow anxious too.

"We must hurry" she whispered to Rin.

However, they heard a crack not too far away and something was thrown at the air. Kagome ducked and pulled Rin down so she'd imitate her. A weapon joined to their attacker by a long chain got stuck in a tree behind them. Kagome looked up at their aggressor although she already knew who it was: Kohaku. His empty eyes and neutral expression caused her to shiver. She held her bow tightly and with slow movements, she let go Rin's hand and reached for the quiver where she kept her arrows.

"Kohaku!" Rin screamed and stood up with a wide smile.

Kagome turned pale and stared at girl walking towards the boy, he looked at her with his lifeless expression. He pulled the chains of his weapon and It returned to his hand. He was going to attack Rin again, but Kagome was not going to allow it, she was not going to let him hurt the little girl.

"Don't dare to move, Kohaku, or I'll shoot!"

Actually, her intentions weren't hurting Sango's little brother, but she had to shoot an arrow to one of his hands if she wanted to prevent Rin's death. The boy looked at her now as if considering her as prey.

"Kohaku, don't hurt us, please! Don't you recognize me?" Rin begged holding up both hands.

Kohaku didn't pronounce a word, it wasn't him, and Rin could notice it, he was that puppet that had kept her company for a while. Kagome was breathing nervously, she was attentive to any of Kohaku's movements, he was not going to allow him to hurt Rin.

However, his weapon was not aiming at Rin, but Kagome who managed to dodge it at the last moment and, before Kohaku could do something to pull it back to his hand, Kagome seized Rin by the wrist and ran away with her behind.

"Wait…! Kohaku is…!"

"That's not Kohaku!" she screamed and got into some bushes to lose sight of him "He's a puppet from Naraku now!"

When they had lost him, Kagome and Rin hid between the bushes and waited in silence and with their hearts pounding in case he had followed them. Rin stared at Kagome terrified, in her childish naivety she had thought that she may be able to help Kohaku coming back to himself, but he didn't even recognize her. Kagome sighed when she noticed he could be gone and peaked through the bushes to take a view of the forest; no one seemed to be about so, after making a quick gesture to the girl, both began to come out of their hiding place and resumed their way towards the palace, this time a bit more alert and careful not to make any sound or speak in a loud voice.

When they got to the palace, Kagome stopped and turned her serious face to Rin.

"You must stay out here."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's really dangerous inside" she whispered and smiled barely, "and besides, Sesshomaru wouldn't forgive me if something happened to you,."

The girl looked down.

"And what am I supposed to do out here by myself?"

"You'll hide from every threat and when you see the other coming, you'll join them, ok?"

"And will you go inside alone?"

She nodded.

"I have to help them get in so there's no time to lose. Now, hide!"

Luckily the girl seemed to understand and ran towards some bushes in which she hid. Kagome smiled and then got into the palace through one of the opened windows from the back.

* * *

After more than half an hour waiting, Sango sat on the floor with a gloomy expression, Miroku and Shippo got closer to give her support and Inuyasha, already fed up with the whole situation, drew out Tessaiga again.

"I've had enough, I'll break it!"

"Wait, Inuyasha… we haven't waited enough yet" Miroku tried to soothe him.

"Why are you so quiet?" Kikyo is in danger and who knows what may have happened to Kagome!"

"You'll get nothing from that."

This time was Sesshomaru who spoke, his half-brother glared at him.

"Why don't you better help with something instead of standing there doing nothing!?"

"There's absolutely nothing to do but wait."

"Why!? Aren't you worried about something happening to them!?"

"That's not true" he whispered and looked back at the forest at the other side of the field, "better said, I trust Kagome will succeed in opening a path."

Inuyasha gaped at him open-mouthed, the rest too. Sango's thoughts about her brother were interrupted to stare at Sesshomaru as surprised as her friends: he had called her friend by her name. He had never addressed her like that before, he just called her "human" as he did with everyone else. A little smile appeared in Sango's lips, she could understand something was happening to that demon, to that proud youkai, with Kagome… something so strong not even he could grasp.

Suddenly, the force field began to weaken and the ones sitting in the ground stood up in a second, but it was Sesshomaru who reacted first and rushed into the field without much effort; a weak shock tried to stop him, but it was not enough to block his way as before. Jaken jumped towards him to grab his mokomoko but failed and fell on the floor. In the blink of an eye, Sesshomaru had vanished towards the direction Kaome and Rin had left. Inuyasha also followed him trespassing the field.

"Kirara!" Sango shouted.

Kirara meowed and turned into a giant feline, but until both humans who had been left behind got on her with Shippo, the shield had regained its strength and turned impregnable once more leaving them outside. Sango's face turned gloomy again.

"No, it can't be, no!" she shouted and her eyes filled with tears, "Kohaku!"

* * *

She grabbed another arrow and placed it on the bow to shoot in case It was necessary, she had managed to distract that woman sitting in the middle of that room while praying. She had risen her head a bit to look at her, her little dark eyes had looked daggers at her as sharp as the arrow Kagome had shot towards her seconds before and that now remained stuck between her feet. Kagome was breathing harshly, her blood ran through her veins frenetically and her hands trembled. She smiled barely when she noticed Kikyo's force field was casting weakened with the startle Kagome caused with her sudden interruption.

"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply.

"I ask you the same question" Kagome answered frowning "now you help Naraku?"

Kikyo smiled and stood up still holding a bright circle between her hands. Kagome knew it was the force field.

"That's not your business, but I know what you're planning."

Kagome frowned more.

"Kikyo… think about this, please… Inuyasha's here, he's looking for you, please, don't do this" she tried to make up her mind and lowered the bow with the arrow she was pointing at her and took a step forward.

Kikyo laughed with that malice she showed when she knew Kagome was clueless about something, she then placed the sphere she was holding on a pedestal and grabbed her bow and arrow too. A shiver ran down Kagome's spine and she decided to take a step back.

"What are you doing?" she asked, scared, she could not think about Kikyo wanting to hurt her.

"You came here by yourself, risking your life for your friends. But you've made a big mistake because I can't let you go just like that" she stated and took a Shikon shard from between her clothes which she placed on the tip of her arrow. The particularity of the shard Kikyo held between her fingers was its dark and corrupted aura. There was no doubt Naraku had given her that and she didn't consider purifying it. She then tightened the bow, "Naraku wants you dead and I'll handle it."

"Why are you doing this!?" Kagome asked and turned pale.

There was no doubt, she was going to end her, she was serious.

There was no answer, Kikyo shot the arrow towards Kagome. She tried her best to dodge it and did it. The arrow got stuck in the wall behind her.

"Please, Kikyo, reconsider this!" Kagome shouted, she was choking with shock.

But Kikyo rose both hands towards the arrow. The shard in its end shone with intensity and from it emerged a huge black portal which began to suck Kagome in thanks to Kikyo's power. The young woman gasped and fell on her stomach trying to grab on something, so she nailed her fingers on the ground, but the sucking force was so powerful that her body elevated and she could not keep fighting against it. She flew towards the black hole and the last thing she could see was Kikyo staring at her coldly, scornfully.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

Thank you so much for your reviews and I'll beg you all to forgive me for taking months in updating! I had lots of personal problems I barely couldn't manage and once they settled down, I decided to finish the original story first… so now that it's finished, I'll focus completely to finish this one!

Thank you so much for your patience!

Love, Starebelle


	8. The Other End of the Thread

Chapter 8: The other end of the thread

Where was she now? It was impossible to distinguish anything. She felt like floating on nothing, surrounded by nothing more than air. She wanted to open her eyes, but they were really heavy, she also wanted to move her arms, but nothing happened. Her whole body was dead weight on the nothing where she floated. She could only hear her own heartbeats. Why were they so hopeless? What had happened? She tried her best to remember, but her thoughts were so confusing that she could barely remember random voices. She just gave up and sighed heavily to relax and clear her mind… black, everything was black, but she could hear a voice: the voice of that woman she knew quite well. She focused on the voice for a long moment until the voice grew a face. Her own face? No, that face was quite like hers, but it was not herself, it was a woman like her, she looked exactly like her… very alike… yes…

Kikyo?

She suddenly opened her eyes and she stopped floating. All the peace she had felt until then turned into a violent chaos and she fell towards some place. She screamed, now she had enough strength as to scream in the darkness, but her voice got lost in its infinity. Her body hit against what seemed to be the floor of that nothingness she was into. She tried her best to stand up, but her whole body weighed as if she was made of lead.

"Kikyo? Kikyo let me out of here!"

Her voice didn't even make an echo, but it got lost again. Then she would wander that place forever, alone and forgotten? Had Inuyasha already noticed her disappearance and Kikyo's betrayal and was on his way to rescue her?

And… what if he didn't care?

She felt her legs shaking and she bit her lower lip. No, that couldn't be possible. Why her worst thoughts began to surround her and torture her in that moment? Slowly, a vivid picture came to her mind, it was so clear that she could swear it was right in front of her eyes… it was Inuyasha arriving to where Kikyo was resting, he hugged her feeling happy to finally meet her again and didn't ask her anything and he didn't notice what had happened… and she hugged him too, maybe they would melt in a warm reencounter kiss…

She shook her head and tried to divert the track of her thoughts. He would rescue her, he had done it before and he would do it again. Why was she doubtful this time? Maybe because she knew Inuyasha's feelings towards Kikyo had intensified so much that he seemed to have lost the ability to think clearly when she was around?

She wanted to cry. Why was she torturing herself like that? Her legs gave up and she fell to the ground again.

* * *

"Is that…?" Inuyasha asked once he caught up with his brother and both stood outside of Naraku's mansion.

Sesshomaru stopped in his tracks, indeed, Rin was there with another boy, it was that boy Kohaku. But he didn't seem like a threat for her that time, he was standing in front of Rin who was speaking to him while holding his hands as if trying to make him come to his senses. Kohaku's face looked calm, as if the girl's words had sneaked into the deepest of his heart, even deeper than Naraku's effect on him.

"Rin, are you ok?" Sesshomaru asked as he landed by their side.

Kohaku gasped and backed away, but Rin's face lighted up when she recognized her protector. She immediately nodded and then looked at Kohaku.

"We've got to help him, Mr. Sesshomaru, Kohaku doesn't want to hurt us, really.

Sesshomaru glared at him, he was not going to forget the times that boy lost control of himself to obey Naraku's orders. Despite that, he could notice that was not happening at that moment, but he was not going to leave them alone in case Kohaku's evil nature returned. If it was Rin's wish to help him, he'd make sure Kohaku couldn't cause more problems.

"And what about Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked.

"No one has come in or out of the mansion" Rin answered and looked at the window through which Kagome had sneaked into a few minutes before.

"Rin, Kohaku, stay close to me" the youkai ordered noticing his brother jumped through the window without a second thought.

Both kids nodded and followed him. Sesshomaru followed Inuyasha's track from afar since the hanyou was desperate to get to that woman. By the time they reached Inuyasha, he was facing a woman, a real priestess of long dark hair and penetrating eyes. Sesshomaru decided not to get into that huge hall immediately, but he rose a hand towards the kids running behind him so they would stop as he stared at the scene in profound silence. Sesshomaru's golden and furtive eyes darted towards her and froze for some long seconds: she was quite similar, if not very, to her, to the young woman who had trespassed the force field with Rin not long ago, Kagome. He then stared at Inuyasha, he was pale as a ghost, his gaze was fixed in the woman, his hands were shaking and his eyes began to soften.

"Kikyo… Kikyo… you're ok…" he whispered.

Sesshomaru felt how his heart was beating quickly: so that was Kikyo.

He began to put two and two together, and he was unable to (even if he wished) disbelieve the human's words written in her diary, he could confirm them all just by looking at his stupid brother's face and his voice, how his hands rose towards her as he moved carefully closer, as if he feared her running away like a scaredy cat.

"Inuyasha…" she whispered, her voice trembled.

"What happened to you? What are you doing here? Did Naraku kidnap you? Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head, the sadness in her face was real.

"Naraku has a creature in the deepest of this castle devouring my souls one by one."

Inuyasha was bewildered.

"What? Your souls?"

She nodded and bit her lower lip before taking a few steps towards him and wrapping both arms around his neck. Inuyasha gasped and, almost instinctively, hugged her back. Both melted in a horribly disgusting hug seen from the eyes of their spectator, not too far from them. Sesshomaru, as they were distracted by whispering things at each other, began to sniff the air, he was waiting for the moment Inuyasha took notice of Kagome's disappearance. Was it possible that that woman's presence had disrupted him so badly that he had forgotten the reason he had been able to trespass that force field? Kagome's smell wasn't even there, in that same building or the forest. It was as if she had vanished from the world.

And how couldn't Inuyasha take notice?

"Don't worry, Kikyo, I will go after Naraku and that monster myself and I'll free you."

Kikyo nodded with her face still buried in his chest.

"You fool, be prepared!"

Inuyasha's dog-ears rose at Sesshomaru's calling. Naraku's evil presence had suddenly flooded the place and he hadn't even noticed. He quickly moved away from Kikyo and drew out his sword anxiously waiting for the demon to appear. Sesshomaru came out of where he had been watching the couple so they would not discover him and his eyes scanned the whole room, he could not avoid noticing the arrow stuck in one of the walls.

"Seems Kikyo has failed me again."

The voice seemed to have come from every corners at the same time. Inuyasha turned his back at Kikyo ready to protect her in case any threaten got close. But for some long seconds, not even a shadow appeared, Naraku was present, yes, but he was playing with their expectations.

"You better keep your distance, Naraku!" Inuyasha growled.

"Why so flustered, Inuyasha?"

"Where are you!?"

"I see you've brought some company… so you're still alive, Sesshomaru?"

The demon made a face slightly showing out his sharp teeth. His hand was resting on Tokiyin's hilt, ready to react in case Naraku took advantage of them not knowing from where exactly was he going to attack them.

"I'm here because I'll finish you off this time" he answered with clenched teeth.

Everything happened too fast, first a thundering laugh flooded the place. The shadow surrounding them gathered and concentrated to give shape to the demon's figure with that long dark hair and little red eyes decorated with that smirk. Both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru jumped on him, but as it was expected, Naraku's power and speed to dodge their attacks was at the same level as Sesshomaru's.

It was unavoidable to forget Naraku's possession of the shards he had sent to collect made him stronger, which is why each time they encountered him; it was more difficult to defeat him.

Finally, as both warmed up into the battle's heat and read their enemy's movements, they could coordinate their attacks to—at least— harass the demon a bit. After exchanging some blows, Naraku hurt Inuyasha badly trespassing him with one of the demons coming out of his body and threw him towards a wall. Sesshomaru took advantage of this distraction and stabbed Naraku with his sword, but he moved away with such speed that Tokiyin barely managed to create a deep cut in his shoulder.

Wounded and cursing them, Naraku threw his poisonous insects towards the brothers. The insects came from every hole of the room and began to flutter around them. However, in that moment, the last thing Sesshomaru thought was getting poisoned again, he remembered Rin hiding not too far from there. Luckily, Kohaku was protecting her by killing any insect with his demon-slayer weapon. Sesshomaru used his poisonous whip he created from his own claws to slay the few insects that still bothered the kids.

"Are you alright?"

Rin, who was covering her head, looked up at him and nodded with a big smile of relief knowing he was safe and sound after that battle with Naraku. Then, the youkai looked furtively at Kohaku to be sure he was still in his tracks. The boy also smiled at him, timidly, which relieved him and returned to where he had left Inuyasha. But this time, Naraku had already vanished and right when he came in, he saw how the place where that arrow had been stuck opened up into a portal summoned by Naraku as he held an unconscious Kikyo and got into it with her.

Inuyasha, unable to move, screamed the priestess' name at the top of his lungs as if his words cold somehow cling to herand bring her back to his side. However, what called the demon's attention was the smell coming from inside the portal.

It was Kagome's smell, soft, almost imperceptible, but it was her.

He realized it then, that explained the arrow, the reason why she seemed to have vanished from the world: she was there, in that portal's limbo.

Naraku disappeared and the portal began to close at his back. Sesshomaru, almost automatically, drew out Tenseiga and stuck the blade into the wall. Immediately the portal stopped getting smaller allowing an entrance. Sesshomaru turned quickly towards his brother who had stood up helping himself with his own sword. Inuyasha's eyes sparkled after watching the miracle his brother created, he wished to throw himself into that portal hoping to reach Kikyo, there was no doubt of it, and when he spoke, Sesshomaru could verify it:

"I never believed I'd say this but… thanks."

He then began to move towards the portal, so Sesshomaru rose his hand to stop him.

"What do you think you're doing, Sesshomaru?" his brother asked now growing impatient and glaring and him, "I need to rescue Kikyo!"

"Kikyo?" he asked bitterly "Don't you think you're forgetting someone else?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Kagome."

His brother blinked, clueless about what he was being told, as if he had spoken to him in another language.

"Who?"

Sesshomaru gaped at him. Was he playing? He furrowed his brows and pushed him aside causing his brother to fall on his butt because of how weak he was feeling after the battle. Inuyasha's eyes remained confused, unable to recognise the name of the woman Sesshomaru had pronounced. It was impossible, there was no probabilities of him forgetting about the woman who had been by his side for so long and who he used to protect with his own life. Sesshomaru's golden eyes darted towards the children standing not too far from them, staring back at him confused.

"Rin."

"Yes, Mr. Sesshomaru?"

"Did Kagome get into this palace?"

"Kagome?"

As he thought, she didn't know who he was talking about either. In that moment he put the last two and two together and walked closer to the portalthat would take him to where she could be: the void.

Reality stuck him as if the roof of that same building had crumbled on his head. But he could not deny what was happening, everyone was rubbing it on his face and he was the only one capable of doing something about it. He took a step forward, ready to get into the portal.

"Sesshomaru, you don't understand it, you must let me go after her!" Inuyasha tried to convince him again, this time almost begging.

He turned enough to look at him over his shoulder.

"I do understand, even better than you do."

This last being said, he got into the portal and was swallowed by that infinite darkness. The few sounds coming from the palace vanished as well as the light surrounding him. He found himself floating in nothingness, but he knew he was going to find her, her smell would take him to where she was, so he followed her track in the darkness, as blindly.

That place was the inexistent void between portals that could only be created by powerful creatures with enough mystic power. It was designed to trap anyone trying to follow its creator through the portal. It was difficult and almost incomprehensible magic, but thanks to his sword's sacred power, he could keep the portal open enough time to rescue her and return safe and sound.

But what haunted him the most was the reason why only he could remember her of all the ones present in that room, mainly comparing himself with Inuyasha. He had his theory about it and accepting it would shame himself even more than before. The magic that made only him remember her was ancestral, very ancient and even more powerful than the magic from that portal.

He looked down at his hand and his breath stopped by what he saw:

There was a red thread tied to his pinkie.

* * *

For how long had she been trapped in that place?

Had they forgotten her already?

And if that was the case, if Inuyasha had forgotten her, if he had forgotten about her whole existence in his life, her friends would remember her, Rin was there too, she also doubted Sesshomaru not noticing her absence in that place…

If Inuyasha failed her, if everyone failed her… Sesshomaru would be there, she was certain he wouldn't forget her.

She covered her face while she smiled bitterly. Had she finally falling for Sango's assumptions? Was she really thinking about Sesshomaru? that Sesshomaru could help her, rescue her from that place? Why him and not Inuyasha? She half-opened her fingers and stared at Inuyasha and Kikyo's melted in a tender kiss that her own mind was projecting in front of her eyes and which stabbed her own heart. She bit her lower lip and buried her face more between her shaking hands. She wanted to wake up from that nightmare, but the worst of all was that she knew that that was the reality, that Inuyasha wouldn't repair on her, that his heart belonged to that woman and no one else… and the heart she had given him, Kagome's, was there, thrown aside.

* * *

But someone had walked past that heart and had dared to stare at it, to scrutinize her pain and ask her why she suffered, why was she wasting that love in someone unnecessary. It was Sesshomaru's voice now echoing in her head with the same words from that night after he gave her the shards. Why did she love someone who didn't care for her? Maybe because no one had ever awakened so many feelings at the same time inside her, no one had ever made her feel so much anger, impotence, sadness, love, devotion… but was Inuyasha the only one? Wasn't there anyone else for her? Would he be the only one able to raise such feelings inside her? Wasn't she able to rise her head and stare at the future hiding behind Inyasha's figure?

And she did, she rose her head and her eyes looked at her hands first. She stared at them for a long moment and noticed something was not right, something that hadn't been there before had appeared: there was a red thread tied to her pinkie. She furrowed her brow and turned her hand to take a better look, it was the red thread of destiny she had heard of so many times as a child— when two people were destined to be together, time and place didn't matter, that thread would join them and would remind them they are destined to be together. Did she have a twin soul in any other place, particularly in that place? It seemed odd so she rose her eyes, the thread was moving as if the one at the other end was doing something, as if he was… getting closer.

Kagome's sight rose over the two figures her wicked mind created in front of her and half-closed her eyes when she noticed the vision was distorting, fading and losing its outlines since the moving thread was passing through it.

Her lips opened.

Was it… her other half getting closer for real?

Someone trespassed the figures like a thunder, destroying it completely. She gasped but her eyes remained fixed, static as she was, in who was now looking back at her with those deep, penetrating and cold eyes this time showing a strange warmth, there was a shade of concern in them…

"Kagome!"

Sesshomaru's golden eyes sparkled, they were really close to her face, she suddenly realized this and startled.

She backed away from him, it couldn't be, it was another illusion from her mind like the one that had just vanished by Sesshomaru's appearance, she was sure. How could it not be an hallucination? Sesshomaru? There? Calling her by her name?

The demon's hand was quickly wrapped around Kagome's waist so she would not move further away from him. The woman's surprise had been such that she could not grasp that the one in front of her was real.

When she felt Sesshomaru's touch, her heart pounded and her face turned crimson. She stared at the demon's face who was staring back at her with determination, as If he wanted to make sure she was fine, but specially, he couldn't help but taking a quick glimpse at the woman's hand decorated by that bright red thread joining them. When he noticed the strange colour in the girl's face, he averted his eyes.

"Let's go away from this place" he said quickly and coldly, trying to be as distant as possible.

But he actually felt as uncomfortable as she did, his heart was beating at her rhythm and his hand wrapped around her waist was shaking just a bit, but she didn't notice that. Now that he knew Kagome was aware of the force joining them he felt so vulnerable, so naked in front of her.

Kagome just nodded, incredulous and rose her head towards the white spot that marked the entrance to the void. He rose easily still holding her tight against his body. The woman's hands quickly held on Sesshomaru's clothing and both rose to the exterior.

But the way out seemed endless despite Sesshomaru's speed was almost unrivalled. Kagome's breath faltered and she was trying her very best to avoid making any silly remark that could bother him and, maybe, cause him to regret having come to that place to rescue her. She wished to look back at the thread tied to her finger and she did: the other end fell and, there was no doubt, ended in Sesshomaru's hand. She wanted to ask him if he could see it too, or at least say something about it, but she knew it was going to be too invasive even for someone who had just broken the huge rampant between them: not pronouncing her name.

He had called her by her name, he, Sesshomaru, the cold Sesshomaru.

She turned red as a beetrot again right when they passed through the portal towards the exit and the light received them suddenly so she had to close her eyes. When she got used to the brightness of that new surrounding, she could recognize she was in Naraku's palace again. The big difference this time was Kikyo's absence, but Inuyasha was there, and her friend's faces too. She startled when she noticed Inuyasha's expression: his face was gloomy, depressed, even desperate. But when their eyes met, she could notice how incredulous he felt, as if something had hit his head very hard by surprise.

"Kagome?" he asked taking a step forward, towards her, "Kagome!"

Sesshomaru let go of her and moved aside, Inuyasha moved closer and wrapped both arms around her. Kagome, who was about to say something, swallowed her words when she felt Inuyasha's pressure on her body. She blushed again, although this time she was not as ashamed as minutes ago and lowered her head.

He was hugging her. But he hadn't been the one who rescued her.

Inuyasha was not the other end of her red thread.

She sighed profoundly and moved away from him to place both hands on the man's chest and stared back at him with a little but sad smile.

"I'm glad to see you're OK, Inuyasha" Kagome said before looking at the rest of her friends who seemed surprised too, "what's wrong?"

Miroku, who had arrived along with Shippo and Sango when the portal had closed behind them, just shook his head and scratched his chin. Sango looked guilty and Shippo was as confused as Inuyasha.

"You were not only erased from the world" speculated the monk after a long silence "but also from our memories."

"What?" asked Kagome in surprise.

"We didn't remember you, Kagome, we didn't even knew who you were" Shippo added with sadness, Rin nodded at his words.

"No one?"

Inuyasha's head was down, the priestess' heart ached with sadness. Her suspicions when she was inside that place had been confirmed. But also… she had also had hopes that there had to be someone that couldn't forget about her so easily: she looked at Sesshomaru, but she was surprised to notice he was no longer standing at her side, but he had decided to leave the place with Jaken running behind him.

"Sesshomaru!" she called him taking a few steps towards him, decided about was about to ask him "then why you could?"

The demon's steps stopped, his long silver hair waved on his back and he stared at her from over his shoulder: his calm golden eyes shone with such an intensity that she had seen few times before, he then lowered his eyes towards his palm as If he had something there, but it was not the case.

It was already gone.

Kagome smiled like a fool.

Sesshomaru was the other end of her red thread.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

Hello! And thanks for waiting again! And thanks for your reviews too! I am glad to know you like this story as much as I expected!

Pd: now things are getting much more interesting from this part on!


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